Normal Insecurities
by The Blue Raven
Summary: Jim and Blair are enlisted to help a nascent Sentinel learn to control her abilities. Crossover with Sanctuary descriptions of both shows within. Post TS by BS...
1. Author's Note

**Normal Insecurities**

**Summary**: Jim and Blair are enlisted to help a nascent Sentinel learn to control her abilities. Crossover with Sanctuary.  
**Rating: **PG  
**Author's Note:** Mahalo to Kameka for the beta read. I didn't follow all your suggestions, but I appreciated every one. All remaining errors are my own.

**Okay, I'm including this as its own Chapter just because it isn't part of the story but it's long and you may or may not need to actually read it. If you know both shows, Sentinel and Sanctuary, feel free to skip to the next chapter. Otherwise, go ahead and read the relevant paragraph below for some background.**

**Author's Note 2: **Crossover between "Sentinel" and "Sanctuary". Here's a brief overview of each show in case you haven't seen one or the other:

**Sentinel** is about Jim Ellison, a cop whose five senses are all radically enhanced, making him in essence a "walking forensics lab" (Jim's a Sentinel, a role that's existed since the dawn of man: he is a protector, defender, guard, warrior, and keeper of the peace) and his partner, Blair Sandburg (Blair is Jim's Guide, a Shaman who helps Jim keep his powers --and sometimes his instincts-- under control and generally offers sound and moderate advice to counter Jim's habit of acting before he thinks). Blair was an anthropologist studying Sentinels when he discovered Jim, a living example of the topic of his dissertation, and the two have been inseparable since. Jim was largely reluctant to accept the idea that he was different (a "freak" according to his father), but he accepted Blair into his life, first as a helper and later as a friend. The two spent several years as partners on the police force (Blair simultaneously studying and documenting Jim's abilities and working at a local university as he studied towards his doctorate). During this time, Jim's abilities (and Blair's insights) were invaluable in solving numerous serious crimes and saving countless lives. Ultimately, Blair would sacrifice his academic career to keep Jim's abilities secret from the public (unfortunately not before the media got a hold of the story) and be offered a full-time position with the police after declaring himself a fraud to the world (thus protecting Jim's secret).

**Sanctuary** is a series that originally aired with the tagline "Even things that go bump in the night need protection" (later "Some hide, they seek"). Sanctuaries exist to protect and assist humans with supernatural abilities and also cryptids (creatures commonly found only in folklore and crypto-zoology). The Sanctuary is led by Doctor Helen Magnus, the first female to be made a doctor by the Royal Academy of Surgeons (go ahead, do the math). After an experiment that seemed like a good idea at the time, Magnus became functionally immortal. She is now 157 years old and doesn't look any older than she did at the time of the initial experiment. She has, however, learned a great deal in the meantime and expanded her interest in supernatural people and creatures ("abnormals") to the point where there are well-equipped Sanctuary houses and a network of monster hunters and abnormal contacts and associates world-wide. She is assisted in her work by "new guy" psychiatrist Doctor Will Zimmerman, who was new to the whole world less than a year ago and is still being constantly surprised. Will is insightful to a degree that may or may not be natural, and he often helps Magnus reach out to abnormals who might not otherwise trust her. In the past, Will was employed by both the FBI and local police agencies for his insights into criminal activities and behaviors. Eventually, he and his theories were deemed too "out there", and began to be dismissed, which seems to have been all Magnus was waiting for to approach him. Also employed by Magnus' Sanctuary house is the actual Bigfoot (or ONE of them, at least--her butler, grateful for an act of kindness she once performed for him and refusing to leave). Henry Foss is Magnus' technical support/equipment guy, a werewolf she encountered on the moors of Britain as a child and took in. He only recently experienced his first transformation and was initially reluctant to have anything to do with that aspect of his being, until he realized that he could be of as much use to Magnus as a werewolf as he could be as a tech whiz. Rounding out the Sanctuary team is 23 year old Ashley Magnus, Helen Magnus' daughter and designated monster-hunter for the group. She goes after those creatures that are a threat to humankind, and handles arm's deals and contacts with the underworld of abnormal who live covertly among regular humans. Ashley was conceived in the 1800s but not born until the 20th century. Her father is Montague John Druitt (look it up on Wikipedia; the girl's dad is _Jack the Ripper_), a situation she still has a slight chip on her shoulder over.

**Okay, that should be all you need to know. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me (****) and I'll get right back to you.**

**And, remember, feedback is lurve! **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Detective Blair Sandburg answered the door, not at all what Helen Magnus had expected. Instead of being a clean-cut cop, the man was a mass of curls. Bouncy curls at that. Definitely the enthusiastic sort. Will Zimmerman gave the Detective a bemused smile, obviously as taken aback by his manner and appearance as she was.

"Doctor Magnus?" he greeted her, his hand shooting out. "Wow. What an honor. Your work is just… well, it's just so interesting!"

She smiled and shook his hand. "As is your own, Detective Sandburg. I recall reading your dissertation when it was first leaked to the press. _Utterly_ fascinating."

"Helps to have a fascinating subject. Nice to meet you both. Come in, come in." He ushered her and Will into the spacious apartment. "Tea?"

"Please. Is Detective Ellison in?"

"Not yet. Decided he had a stack of paperwork that absolutely couldn't wait." Blair scoffed. "Jim _never_ does his own paperwork. Makes me do it instead."

"Well, you _did_ mention that he was reluctant to help us."

"Jim tries to avoid getting labeled as a 'freak' or anything." Blair shrugged. "He's touchy about these things."

"I can imagine," Magnus agreed. "It's never easy, growing up as an abnormal."

Blair nodded his agreement, gesturing for them to relax on the couch, then hurrying into the kitchen. Magnus gestured for Will to take a place on the couch, then joined Blair in the kitchen.

"Did you, yourself, notice any abnormalities growing up? I've long wondered if the Guide isn't as unique as the Sentinel."

"Nah." Blair waved a dismissive hand, filling the kettle with water. "I'm just an average guy. Darjeeling okay?"

She smiled. "My favorite."

"What'll you have, Doctor Zimmerman?"

"Got coffee?"

"Sure do."

"There were _no_ signs growing up? Are you sure?" she pressed.

"Pretty sure," he answered with a shrug. "Jim needs someone and I guess I'm that person, but it doesn't make me special or anything."

"Hmm."

Frowning thoughtfully, she joined Will on the couch, not speaking again until Blair had returned to the living room with the tea. A divine-smelling mug of Darjeeling for herself, coffee for Blair and Will. She shook her head. Americans…

"You know, Jim's _never_ agreed to discuss his condition with any academic before. I think you mentioning that there was an eight year old child involved tipped the balance."

"Well, the girl obviously needs help and, if that help can come from an experienced individual, so much the better."

"Well, I can't speak for Jim, obviously, but I'll be more than happy to help any way I can."

"If he _doesn't_ agree to help, will he be able to do without you?"

"We're not joined at the hip. Jim would manage." Blair leaned closer, his eyes eager. "Tell me about this kid you found. You're sure she's the genuine article?"

"She certainly seems to be. All five senses test considerably above normal, and her ability to integrate them is remarkable. For instance, she can tell whether a person is being truthful by using both smell and hearing."

Blair nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Jim does that all the time. Some kind of pheromone, I guess, and the sound of their heartbeat. Plus, I guess, their galvanic skin response changes, but don't ask me how he knows _that_. He can't tell me himself, just knows that it _does_."

"Remarkable. Is he in complete control of his abilities, then?"

Blair considered for a moment. "I wouldn't say _complete_, no. Especially if he's emotional or exhausted or sick, one or the other of his senses can spike. He doesn't need me to talk him down as often as he used to, but it still affects him. It was worse in the beginning. Sometimes he would swear he was losing it."

"I can well imagine. The condition is quite maddening for young Maria. I'm afraid the longer this goes on, the less sane and stable she appears."

"Well, she would hardly be the first Sentinel to go crazy from her abilities."

"You're referring to Alex Barnes?"

"Among others. I've been pulling together sources." He jumped to his feet and hurried into another room, returning with several well-stuffed folders. "There's lots of historical data on individuals with so-called 'delusions' that their senses are enhanced. Plenty of them ended up in mental institutions for life." He handed her one of the folders. "But if you could avoid mentioning any of that to Jim? He's a little sensitive."

"So you said."

Blair made an expressive face. "Yeah, well, it bears repeating."

Will had been silent, simply observing in that way he had. Magnus knew him well enough to know that he was seeing and hearing much more than what was on the surface. When he finally spoke, she was not at all surprised that his question seemed to strike a chord with Blair.

"Exactly how close are the two of you? How would you characterize the nature of your relationship?"

Blair shifted uncomfortably for a moment, sipping at his coffee. "We're close, I guess." He shrugged. "We… do things for each other, you know?"

"I read in your dissertation what you do for him. What does _he_ do for _you_?"

"You mean aside from saving my life every couple of days?"

Magnus smiled, but Will was unimpressed. "That's what cops _do_ for each other. What makes your relationship different?"

"Just _is_." Blair shrugged. "It's hard to define."

Will looked dissatisfied, but subsided. Magnus had no doubt that he would get the answers he was looking for in the end, no matter how evasive the Detective chose to be.

That evasiveness itself raised interesting questions. The dissertation certainly spoke to a certain bond between the two. She had not stopped to consider its nature or scope. It was an intriguing consideration.

"Don't know what's keeping Jim," Blair murmured, changing the subject. He glanced at his watch. "Let me give him a call."

"Very well," she agreed.

Blair climbed to his feet and picked up the phone, dialing quickly. "Hey, Jim. What's going on?" he asked. "Yeah, thought so. Come on, man! It's not _that_ bad. She's really nice and I promise she won't ask you what it feels like to be a freak, okay? Just get your ass home, man." A slight pause. "Hey, great idea. Hadn't even thought of dinner, I was so busy getting my notes and everything together. Okay, man. See you soon." He returned to the living room. "He's on his way. Going to pick up some pizza for supper." Glancing at Magnus, he asked, "That's not too American for you, is it?"

She smiled and assured him, "The only thing 'too American' for my taste is your dreadful coffee."

Blair looked at her as if the concept of anyone not liking coffee was an entirely novel one to him. Typical Yank.

They passed the time until Jim Ellison's arrival discussing the practical side of his abilities, how it helped him in his chosen profession of law enforcement.

"Convenient," she noted finally as Blair described yet another instance where Jim's powers as a 'walking forensics lab' had solved the case. It was starting to seem to her that half the crimes this little city experienced were single-handedly solved by Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg.

"Helpful," Blair agreed, nodding. "But, with Jim, solving crime is more of a calling than anything."

"Do you consider that a genetic imperative? 'Protecting his tribe' as you put it?"

"I lean that way," Blair agreed. "But it's hard to say for sure. Alex Barnes sure as hell didn't care about any tribe."

"Yes, the life-choices of the two _do_ seem diametrically opposed," Magnus agreed. "Would you consider Miss Barnes an aberration?"

"The exception that proves the rule?" He shrugged. "She was cracked, that's for sure. I _would_ say that proper guidance is vital to a Sentinel's formation, but I really _can't_, given Jim's upbringing."

"Yeah, but suppressing the ability is probably the only thing that saved my sanity," a large man pointed out, entering the apartment with several boxes of pizza in hand. "If I hadn't been able to suppress it, I could have ended up just like Alex."

"Evening, Jim," Blair greeted him, jumping to his feet and relieving him of the pizzas. "Sit down, I'll get you a beer."

"Thanks, Chief." Jim patted his shoulder and stepped around him, moving to greet his guests. "Doctors Magnus and Zimmerman?"

She rose and extended her hand. "Helen Magnus. It's an honor, Detective Ellison."

"Nice to meet you, Helen." He squeezed her hand and smiled, but it was the wary look of a man just _waiting_ to be analyzed and then categorized.

"Will Zimmerman," Will introduced himself, likewise shaking hands. He returned Jim's wary look with his best reassuring smile.

"Blair tells me you have a future Sentinel on your hands?" Jim asked, accepting the beer Blair handed him.

Blair handed out plates and placed the pizza boxes on the coffee table and sat down next to Jim.

"Informal, I know," he admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "But Jim and I both had a _long_ day."

"There's no need for either of you to put yourself out," she assured him. "We're both just grateful to you for agreeing to see us. I appreciate that this must be a sensitive issue for you both."

"Sensitive doesn't begin to cover it," Jim told her. "But Blair's right. We're talking about a _child_. Some things take priority over personal comfort."

Jim still looked uncomfortable, but Blair reached out and lightly touched his knee. The big man seemed to relax instantly. She could see Will take note of both action and reaction, as she herself did.

Some kind of psychic or empathic bond between the two?

They helped themselves to pizza and Magnus kept her questions more technical than personal. How far could he see? How did lighting affect range and acuity? Was his hearing general or specific? Could he, for instance, discern one particular sound from amidst a cacophony? A meaningful glance passed between the two men at this question before Jim admitted that he could pick out Blair's heartbeat in a crowd of hundreds.

"Only his?"

He considered, then shook his head. "I could probably do Simon if I tried."

"Our Captain," Blair clarified. "They're good friends."

"So would you say the ability only applies to people you're close to?"

He shrugged. "Picking out an individual heartbeat is easy. _Recognizing_ it is harder."

"Naturally," she agreed. "It's still a remarkable skill."

He shifted uncomfortably.

"Why don't you tell us about this kid?" Blair suggested, lightly touching Jim's shoulder. As before, the action seemed to soothe the older man.

She watched the two for a moment, fascinated. The Sentinel seemed to be drawing strength from the younger man. She had seen such abilities before, but never quite like this. If Jim were truly siphoning off something, Blair should have been weakened by it. Instead, the Guide seemed to grow in strength and serenity even as his friend did.

She would have _loved_ to get a brain-scan of the two at that moment. Well, perhaps another time.

"Maria's sister was, initially, afraid the girl was having some kind of nervous breakdown," she told the pair. "For all intents and purposes, the stimulus is driving her mad. We've had to largely confine her to a dark, padded, soundproofed cell for her own safety."

"That typical of your methods?" Jim demanded, frowning.

"Hardly. Even our most dangerous guests are allowed _some_ degree of freedom. What we operate is a Sanctuary, not a prison. Our aim is to allow abnormals to lead as normal a life as is humanly possible."

He tensed slightly at her use of the word 'abnormal'. Blair murmured, "It's just the parlance, man."

"The word's been in use for better than a hundred and fifty years," she told him, shrugging. "I've yet to find one more appropriate. It refers merely to an individual who is not typical of the majority human population. There is no stigma associated with it, I assure you."

Blair cleared his throat. "Tell us more about Maria," he suggested.

"From everything Will's been able to discover, she was a bright and vivacious girl before this all started. Since, she's become introverted in the extreme and typically unresponsive to others. Behaviorally, it almost resembles autism."

"Do you know what triggered this?" Blair asked.

"Precisely what _you_ would expect," she told him. "The same trigger as Detective Ellison's. A protracted period of isolation in the wilderness."

"She was lost on a girl scout camping trip," Will clarified. "She wandered off from her group, kept walking when she should have sat tight. Six days later…"

Blair nodded. "That'll do it."

"Eight years old?" Jim asked, shaking his head. "Poor kid. Shouldn't have to deal with this _ever_, but at that age…"

"Coming to grips with new abilities is never simple," she agreed. "But I've often found that children have an easier time of it than adults."

Will nodded. "Children have fewer preconceived notions of how things 'should' and 'should not' be. At an age where their bodies, minds, and _worlds_ are already changing radically, one more change isn't as big a deal as it would be in an adult. At that age, sense of scope is drastically different than in an adult. A thing is either earth-shattering or it's nothing at all. There's very little in-between."

Jim considered this for some time. "So if she's surrounded by supportive people who don't treat her like a freak, she won't think of herself that way?"

Will nodded.

Jim leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes and exhaling deeply. "_Must be nice…_"

Blair lightly touched his shoulder.

"Seeing a functional adult with her exact same condition will help," Will added quietly. "You'd be doing her a tremendous favor."

"You saying she has a chance to grow up feeling normal?" Jim demanded.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying," Will answered.

Jim glanced sideways at Blair for a moment, then looked directly at Magnus. "When does our flight leave?"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm afraid it's going to be a bumpy flight," Magnus observed as they waited for boarding to start. A thunderstorm was raging outside the airport, promising turbulence.

"Hey, as long as this doesn't end with me in a parachute, it's an improvement over some of the flights I've been on with Jim," Blair answered, grinning at her.

Jim leaned over and smacked him on the back of the head. From the look of amused tolerance on Blair's face, it was a not-uncommon interaction between the two.

The two started arguing in a good-natured undertone and she watched, entranced. That there was a bond between the men was unquestionable. Its nature continued to elude her. Sometimes they acted very much like brothers, sometimes more like lovers. More often, it seemed beyond words, what the two of them shared.

Whatever it was, it troubled her. If this particular sort of connection was vital to the emotional well-being of a Sentinel, Maria Fawkes could be in serious trouble. A Guide would have to be found for the girl, one who could connect to her on the same deeply emotional level. But _where_?

"Helen?" Will murmured, no doubt picking up on her troubled state of mind.

"Nothing," she answered, shaking her head. "I think I'm going to go call Ashley."

He nodded at this, although she knew he was consciously allowing himself to be sidetracked. "Tell her I said 'hi'."

"I will," she promised, rising and pulling out her phone.

0101010

"Nice digs," Jim remarked as they pulled up to the converted Cathedral that housed the public portions of the Sanctuary. "Bet it's a bitch to heat in the winter."

Magnus grinned. "You don't know that half of it."

"Where do you guys get your funding?"

"I always find it easier not to ask," Will told Jim, giving him a conspiratorial grin.

"You should be warned," she told him, "not all of our residents appear entirely… _human_. Please be aware that they should still be regarded as such and afforded all the same basic respect and consideration."

"Beats how she introduced _me_ to this world," Will noted.

She was a little worried how Jim might react, especially to Bigfoot, but he took one look, smiled, and shook hands with the 'monster'. Blair stared for a little longer, then went off on a tangent about 'wild men' in the folklore of various cultures. From the look on Jim's face, such tangents were nothing new.

Jim's reaction to Henry was entirely different. The young man was walking down the hall with his nose buried in a technical manual when their paths crossed. What might have been a nonevent suddenly became a faceoff. Before Henry had completely rounded the corner, Jim forced Blair behind his back and drew his gun on the startled-looking young man.

"Whoa!" Henry protested, holding up both hands. "Easy, man…"

Jim stared at him for a long moment before holstering his gun, looking equal parts unsettled and confused.

"Sorry. I, uh…"

"Jim?" Blair asked, touching his arm. "What is it, man?"

Jim drew a deep breath, leaning into Blair's touch. "Sorry. I could have sworn I smelled… well, a _wolf_. Sorry. Crazy, I know."

She stared at Jim as hard as Henry was. "Uh, this is Henry Foss, our technical support man."

"You're that Sentinel dude?" Henry asked, carefully lowering his hands. "I smell like a wolf?" He grinned, shaking his head. "Sweet."

"Henry's a werewolf," Magnus explained to Jim as the young man wandered off, admirably feigning nonchalance. She knew better; the poor boy was probably on his way to help himself to a few valium. "Quite harmless, I assure you," she added at Jim's look. "I found him in Britain as a child. He's proved an invaluable ally."

Jim considered this, looking for all the world like a man faced with a complete lunatic. Under the circumstances, she could hardly blame him. Different people accepted the truth at different rates.

"There really _is_ more in Heaven and Earth than is dreamed of in your philosophy," she told him.

Jim gave a slow nod. "So it would appear."

"A _real_ werewolf?" Blair wanted to know as they resumed walking to her office. "Full moon transformations and everything?"

He sounded like a child who had discovered that Christmas had arrived early. She smiled and shook her head, assuring him that she would tell him all about Henry another time. Jim told him not to wet himself. Blair did not seem to have a response to this, although he clearly spent some moments searching for one.

Magnus led them into her office and bade them sit.

"I know it sounds weird, but would it be possible for us to get rooms adjoining each other?" Jim asked as she issued orders to Bigfoot. "Helps keep me grounded."

"Of course," she agreed, nodding to Bigfoot.

"I'll see to it," he murmured, leaving the room.

"We'll have your rooms ready in a few minutes," she assured the two men, dropping into her seat. "Maria will be asleep by now. You can meet her in the morning."

0101010

Jim opened his eyes at the sound of his door opening. It took him less than a second to recognize the individual who had intruded on him.

"Blair."

"Yeah, man. What do you think?" Blair asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I think this whole thing is crazy," he answered honestly. "Don't know what you were thinking, talking me into this."

"I was thinking that a kid needed our help. You think it was a bad idea?"

"Chief, there's a _werewolf_ sleeping two doors down from me. You think it was a _good_ one?"

"It's a crazy world, I'll admit. But it's also a world we've belonged to for _years_ now. We just never _knew_ it before this."

Jim sighed and shrugged, focusing on Blair's heartbeat. It was slow and methodical, the heartbeat of a man at peace.

Well, as much as Blair was _ever_ at peace since Naomi's idiocy over the dissertation had forced him out of his world and into the almost totally foreign world of law enforcement. He managed, but it was not easy, not when many still saw him as an interloper and a fraud. He did his best, but Jim knew it was never easy for the younger man.

He did what he could to smooth Blair's way, but there were obstacles there, too.

At first, people had assumed that he was complicate in Blair's 'fraud'. Later, the dissertation fiasco was largely forgotten and Jim could get on with his life, but people seemed less willing to forget that Blair was an outsider, an interloper, and one who had an unnatural amount of sway over Jim.

Rumors about the cause of _that_ abounded: many amusing, some just plain insulting. Both men did their best to ignore the chatter and get on with their jobs. It helped that Blair was a damned fine Detective and the two had some of the highest clearance rates in the entire PD, all that really counted with the brass.

"Jim?" the younger man asked at his continued silence, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, Blair. Go and get some sleep," he suggested.

"Don't think so." Blair flopped back on the bed instead, rolling to face Jim. "This is _huge_, Jim, you _do _know that, don't you?"

"Yeah. Another Sentinel. Validation for you."

"Screw me. This means something for _you_, too. You aren't alone, man."

"I haven't been alone in a long time now," Jim answered honestly. "Go back to bed, Blair."

"Later. I know this isn't easy for you, Jim. I figured you might need to talk."

"Not a lot to talk _about_, Chief. There's a kid here who needs our help to grow up normal. Period."

"There's more to it than that and you know it."

"Not tonight, Chief," he sighed. "I don't need this crap right now. I agreed to do this for _your_ sake. That doesn't mean I'm onboard with this freak-show _or_ its staff."

"These people aren't freaks. Not any more than you are."

"Did you _miss_ the guy with an extra face sprouting out the back of his head?" Jim demanded. "This isn't our world, Sandburg. Not by a long shot."

Blair rested his hand on Jim's forehead, and the Sentinel found himself relaxing in spite of himself. In recent years, the effect of Blair's touch had become more intense instead of less so. Maybe for no other reason than because, as time passed, they got to understand each other better and better.

"Just relax, Jim," Blair soothed. "Try to get some sleep."

It was hard not to be calm with Sandburg there and doing his Guide thing, so Jim closed his eyes and drifted into a restful sleep, secure in the knowledge that Blair would be there if he was needed.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Blair had just finished emptying his gun into the target when a female voice assessed his performance.

"_Nice_."

He looked up, startled. He had not expected anyone else in the shooting-range at this hour. _Especially_ not a leggy blonde in skintight leather. 'Nice' was damned right…

"Uh, hi."

"Hey," the girl answered, grinning. "You Jim?"

"Blair."

"Ah. The Guide." She grinned in acknowledgement before squeezing off three shots. Each hit the target, center-mass, in a neat cluster. "Ashley Magnus."

"Oh. Helen's sister?"

"Not quite." Her smile widened. "I'm her daughter."

"Ah, sorry. I didn't realize she was old enough to have kids." Especially not _adult_ kids. "Blair Sandburg."

"Nice to meet you, Blair," she answered, smacking his shoulder. "And I know what you're thinking, but don't ask Mom her age. You'll only get an answer you aren't ready for." More shots, again center-mass. "You like shooting?"

"It's relaxing. Never thought I'd say something like that about shooting a gun, but I have some _damned_ good memories associated with learning how to use the things."

She grinned. "Me, too. Mom taught me when I was about six. The smell of burnt gunpowder still brings back all kinds of good memories. Makes me feel loved."

"Know that feeling," he agreed, ejecting his clip and reloading it from the bullets on the table between them. Naomi would have been appalled at that admission, but there it was. During a time when no one seemed to be happy unless they were giving him shit, those sessions at the range had been an oasis of calm and only reinforced his sense of acceptance from the one person who _really_ mattered.

"Who'd _you_ learn from?" she asked.

"Jim Ellison."

"He's the Sentinel guy?" She nodded. "His powers must be sweet. Always wanted to be an abnormal myself. Hell, both my parents are, so it seems like a given, but no luck."

He considered her for a moment. She was an uncanny shot but, aside from that and killer looks, nothing about her seemed particularly exceptional. More shots from her gun. The poor target was already toast; Ashley just compounded it.

"You'd _like_ to be an abnormal?" he asked her.

"Would depend on my powers, but _yeah_. Who wouldn't?"

"Jim's reluctant to admit that he's different," he told her. "Anything you could think of that might change his mind?"

He slid the clip back into its compartment.

"No one comes to the Sanctuary against his wishes," she answered, shrugging. "If he's here, it's because it's his time to _be_ here. You'll both learn to settle in," she promised.

"If you say so."

"It's not all bad, you know. This world."

"No?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'm an only child, but having Henry was like having a brother. Even if he's occasionally a total _dog_." She grinned.

He smiled back, ignoring the joking reference to Henry's affliction. "I can imagine how comforting that must be. Having a brother, I mean."

"Only child?"

"Yeah. And zero stability growing up. Naomi and I moved all over the place. Never stayed long enough to get settled in before we were off again. Got pretty lonely."

"Harsh," she answered with a sympathetic frown. "I mean, we travelled a lot with Mom's work, but we always had this place to come home to."

"Having a real home is important," he agreed. "Of course, I didn't know what I was missing until much later. Woke up one morning, realized I actually _had_ a home. It was…"

It had actually reduced him to tears, but there was no reason to mention _that_.

Ashley seemed to understand anyways. "That's about how I felt when I realized how important Henry is in my life. It shakes you, but in a _good_ way."

"Never tried to put it into words, but that's a good description, actually."

"Mom says you were training to be a scientist?"

"Long time ago. These days, seems like all that was in a past life."

"You sacrificed your career for his protection. That's stand-up."

"It was my fault in the first place. Never was one to stop and think things through."

"No, neither am I," she agreed. "Hey, it's a nice night. Want to go for a walk in the garden?"

"Sounds nice," he agreed, safetying his weapon and going to holster it.

"Hey," she said, grabbing his wrist and raising his gun to eye-level. "That is _not_ a standard police-issue."

"It was a gift."

"Hell of a nice gift," she answered, eyeing the gun the way he typically eyed attractive girls. He loved his gun, but _her_ enthusiasm for it was just unsettling. "What's with the wolf?" she asked finally, indicating the engraving on the grip.

"My spirit animal," he explained. "Jim figured that with my capacity for getting into trouble I could use the extra backup."

"The wolf, huh?" she asked as he holstered the gun. "Impressive."

Blair shrugged. "What's your spirit animal?"

"Well, that's certainly more creative than 'what's your sign?'" she laughed, smacking his shoulder and leaving the shooting range.

Grinning, he followed her.

"Isn't the wolf generally associated with lust?" she asked as they headed for the garden.

"I am as God made me, Red Riding Hood," he answered, grinning.

"Yeah, 'cause _there's_ an answer designed to comfort a girl."

"Don't worry, I'm harmless," he assured her.

She smiled. "Oh, I seriously doubt that."

"Okay, so Jim would say I'm playing to type. Only been in the city a few hours and I've already made friends with the most beautiful woman around."

She smiled at that. "Just keep your hands to yourself, Casanova, and we'll get along fine."

"Fair enough," Blair agreed. "So, what do you do here?"

"I hunt monsters."

"You…" He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was serious.

Her smile widened. "True story. Ashley Magnus, monster hunter. Track 'em down, catch 'em, exterminate 'em if that's what's called for." She shrugged. "You go for diplomacy first, of course, 'cause half of them just want to be left in peace. It's the other half you have to watch out for."

When they reached the garden, it was occupied.

"Oh, hey, Henry!" Ashley greeted the werewolf, waving. "Have you met Blair yet?"

"Uh, we kind of ran into each other earlier," Henry answered, giving Blair a wry smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Jim gets a little edgy at times."

"Hey, can't blame him for drawing on me when he expected a wild animal to lope around that corner instead." Henry shrugged. "No hard feelings." He offered his hand to Blair.

Blair shook, smiling. "So, you're actually…"

Henry nodded.

_Wow._

"What's it like?"

"Took me some time to come to terms with it," he admitted. "I very seriously considered letting Doctor Magnus lobotomize me rather than have to live with it. But it comes in handy at times." He shrugged. "Just have to be careful about smell and taste and things."

"Sounds like you've got some things in common with Jim," Blair remarked.

"I may have to talk to him. He's been dealing with whacked-out senses a lot longer than I have. He won't try to shoot me again, will he?"

Blair smiled and shook his head. "I'm sure he'll be glad to help any way he can. We aren't interrupting you, are we?"

"Nah. I just needed to get out of the office for a few minutes."

"The new security protocols giving you problems, Henry?" Ashley asked, frowning and grasping his shoulder.

"No, they're just a pain to get up and running while the old ones are still operational, that's all. Nothing that can't be fixed with a massive infusion of caffeine and thirty-six consecutive hours of work."

"Am I going to have to sedate you?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"You can just _feel_ the love, can't you, Blair?" Henry asked.

"Hey!" Ashley protested, giving him a gentle shove. "Just 'cause I don't want my best bud dropping dead of exhaustion. And I'm suddenly the unreasonable one? Go get some sleep, Henry. The new security protocols can wait until morning. You can tell Mom I forced you at gunpoint."

"Yes, ma'am." He saluted and wandered off. "See you, Blair."

"See you, man."

"You look like you could use some sleep yourself," Ashley remarked.

"Probably wouldn't hurt," he agreed. "So, uh, you want to grab a nightcap or something?"

"I'll see you in the morning, Blair," she answered, turning and fading into the shadows.

He could just _hear_ Jim's voice in his head, laughing and telling him that Ashley Magnus was out of his league. Which, while probably true, was also a damned shame.

Shrugging, he went back to his room.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When Corey Fawkes, Maria's sister and guardian, entered Magnus' office the next morning, it was obvious to Blair that she had been crying recently. In fact, she looked very much like a woman whose heart was breaking.

"How is she?" Magnus asked, hurrying to her side.

Corey shook her head. "I can't even get a response from her anymore. She's in so much pain…"

"We'll bring her back to you," Helen promised, grasping her shoulder. "This is Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison."

She smiled weakly at the two men. "Helen says you're experts on Maria's condition?"

"We have some experience with it," Blair confirmed.

"I used to be exactly where your sister is now," Jim confided. "Senses out of control; I thought I was going crazy. Don't know where I'd be today without Blair here."

"Then you _can_ help her?" It was almost a plea.

"We'll do everything in our power," Blair assured her. "Can we see her now?"

Corey nodded and Magnus led them to the hastily-converted cell where Maria was staying. It was dark and padding had been secured to the walls. All the furniture had been removed.

Maria Fawkes was curled up in a corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest. She had completely stripped. Her eyes were wide open, staring sightlessly, and her face was a mask of pain. Jim took a quick step backwards when he saw her, looking sick. Well, he had had bad spells like this in the past himself; he knew exactly what the poor girl was going through.

"How long has she been like this?" Blair asked.

"It happened overnight," Corey answered, looking stricken. "I fell asleep near dawn, woke up about twenty minutes ago and she was like this. I tried to get her dressed again but she just started screaming that it hurt too bad. Then she just… shut down."

"Her senses are out of control," Jim said. "Blair, you need to engage her, talk her back down."

"I don't think that's going to work," Blair answered. "She's in pain, probably panicking. No way she's going to be able to control herself. We need to remove as much stimulus as possible so she can settle down." He looked up at Magnus. "Helen, I don't suppose you have a sensory deprivation tank on-site?"

"As a matter of fact, I _do_. We'll have to get it out of storage, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to set it up. Detective Ellison, I could use your muscles, if you don't mind."

"Blair?" he asked.

"The three of you get the tank set up. Corey and I are going to try to calm her down a little bit in the meantime. Close the door on your way out."

"Wait a second," Will protested.

"Doctor Zimmerman," Blair answered, shaking his head at the psychiatrist. "Every extra person in this room creates about three extra pieces of stimulus for her. She's overwhelmed as it is. I can understand you wanting to stay with your patient, but it's _not_ in her best interest right now. You have cameras in the room? You can keep an eye on her that way."

"Fair enough." He left Blair and Corey alone with the girl, closing the door and casting the room into darkness.

"Okay," Blair said, drawing a breath to calm himself. He could do this, _had to_. "She sit in your lap a lot?"

"Used to. All the time."

"Okay, good. I need her in your lap now."

"I… I can't. Touching her makes it hurt so bad."

"I need you to trust me," Blair told her. "Familiar stimulus should act like white noise to her right now, block out all those nasty externals."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," he told her.

"Okay, okay." He heard her fumbling in the dark, heard a whimper of protest from Maria. Then, "I have her."

"Good, great. Just hold her. Touch her face. Let her smell you. All that can make everything else disappear." Hopefully.

They both listened as the girl's ragged breathing slowed.

"She's relaxing," Corey announced finally. "I can feel her muscles relaxing."

"You're doing great, Corey," Blair told her. "Just think about how much you love her, how wonderful she is. Let all those good vibes just wash right over her."

"Are Sentinels psychic, too?"

"No more than you or I are. But they're still human. They _know_ when they're being loved. You tell me if that's psychic or not."

They sat on the floor in silence, Blair trying to stay close enough to comfort Corey without agitating Maria.

"Sensory deprivation's just a stop-gap, isn't it?" Corey asked after a few minutes.

"It is," Blair agreed. "It's easier to control yourself if you're calm. It's not a solution, just a tool to help us achieve one."

"Helen told me you worked with two Sentinels in the past. She said one… didn't make it. Ended up in a mental hospital?"

"She was too far gone when I discovered her. She'd led her entire life without anyone to help her or guide her or even just tell her that she was normal. Maria's life won't be like that, Corey. She's got a sister who loves her, and you _both_ have me and Helen and Doctor Zimmerman to help you."

"I'm so scared."

"You won't always be," he promised. "You'll grow to see the glory of it, too. Your sister, she stands to help a lot of people, to be a very real force for good."

"How did you learn all of this?"

"Mostly by the seat of my pants," he admitted, smiling at the memories. "But they were good times. I got to watch Jim grow into a whole new man. Just like you'll get to watch Maria grow into a healthy, happy woman."

The door of the cell opened and Magnus announced, "The tank's ready."

Maria buried her face in her sister's hair at the light, but let herself be carried into the elevator and transferred into the tank of warm salt-water.

In very short order, Magnus, watching Maria's progress on a monitor, announced, "She's asleep."

"Oh, thank God," Corey whispered, smiling weakly at Blair. "She hasn't slept properly in _days_. Thank you, Doctor Sandburg."

"It's Detective, not Doctor, and you can call me Blair," he told her, patting her shoulder. "When's the last time you had a decent night's sleep?"

"Don't know. Before this all started, I guess." She shrugged.

"Go get some sleep," Blair directed. "We'll keep an eye on Maria and come get you when she wakes up."

"Oh, I couldn't," she protested.

"You'd better," Jim advised, giving her a firm look. "Your sister needs you healthy. Don't worry. We'll look after her."

"We'll wake you as soon as anything changes," Will promised, nodding encouragingly. "Go ahead, Corey. You've earned it."

She hesitated, then seemed to almost crumple. She was clearly exhausted. She looked defeated and relieved at once. "Thank you all. I really can't thank any of you enough…"

"We've just got started," Blair answered. "Give us time, then you'll be _really_ impressed. Now go get some rest."

"What do you think?" Jim asked Blair after Corey had left the lab.

"I think… we have our work cut out for us," Blair admitted.

Jim grasped his shoulder. "I've got faith in you, Chief."

"That makes one of us."

"I never would have thought of that strategy," Magnus told Blair. "I would have done everything in my power to minimize outside stimulus. Introducing her sister into the equation would never have occurred to me."

"It was pretty clever," Will agreed. "White noise. Nice."

"It was a calculated risk," Blair told them. "It could just as easily have backfired."

"But it _didn't_," Jim pointed out, slapping him on the back. "The sister was so familiar she just drowned everything else out, like you sometimes do for me when it gets bad." He grinned. "You've still got it, Chief."

It was like old times, giving advice on the basis of information that was limited, flawed, and sometimes downright _wrong_. Blair had forgotten quite how much guesswork was involved in coaching a Sentinel through their ups and downs. It was scary, especially with a child's sanity on the line.

"Well," Magnus announced. "There's not much more to be done here for now. Jim, I believe Will had some questions for you. Blair, if I might have a moment of _your_ time?"

Jim looked more than a little reluctant to say anything at all to the psychiatrist. Blair sympathized; Jim disliked the police shrink, too. Being analyzed was just too close to being labeled for his comfort. Some things did not change, no matter how long you spent living with them. Poor Jim was still scared of being labeled a freak.

"I'm sure he just wants some insight so he can help Maria down the road," he murmured for Jim's ears alone.

The Sentinel seemed mollified by this suggestion. Although he still looked a little agitated, he followed Will from the lab.

"Ashley tells me that you're as accomplished at gunplay as you are at flirting," Magnus remarked to Blair once they were alone.

Blair winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. But you meet a pretty girl and you have to at least _try_. I was actually on my best behavior last night."

"I see," she answered, looking amused.

"Nothing happened," he assured her. "We mostly just talked about guns."

"Oh, don't misunderstand me," Magnus answered, shaking her head. "Ashley's a grown woman, entitled to any affair she sees fit. I can hardly complain about _her_ taste in men when _my_ last serious lover was Jack the Ripper."

Blair stared, but she went on as if she had said nothing odd.

"I merely assumed that your relationship with Jim must be monogamous."

_Here we go again._

He sighed. "I'm _not_ Jim's lover. The man has better taste than that."

"You aren't involved? I apologize."

"Doesn't matter. You're not the first person to jump to that particular conclusion, and you won't be the last. It doesn't help that we _do_ actually appear to be soul-mates. And I love the man, I do. I'm pretty sure he loves me, too. But none of that makes us lovers."

She frowned. "Why ever not?"

He shrugged. "Personally, it's just never _mattered_ to me. We have a great relationship; we're everything to each other. Not a lot else matters. Besides, I suck at relationships. Never seemed worth risking what I _do_ have with Jim."

"Then there _is_ an attraction?"

"A physical one? Never really thought about it before. He's a good-looking man, sure. But his soul's what kept me coming back for more all these years." He regarded her thoughtfully. "I'm assuming these questions have a _point_?"

"I'm merely considering the nature of the connection between a Sentinel and Guide."

"As in, if they're supposed to be lovers, Maria's age poses a problem?"

"Among other considerations," she agreed.

"I think the sister has the potential. She's certainly the _logical_ choice."

She nodded thoughtfully. "From everything I've seen, the two exhibit a more-than-human level of empathy with each other."

"That's really all it takes," Blair told her. "The fact that she's familiar will help, too."

"Yes," she agreed. "It certainly solves many of the problems." With clearly-forced nonchalance, she began, "I know you've said that Jim will resist any attempts I might make to examine him, however…"

"No way." Blair shook his head. "Ask if you want, but he's not likely to agree, not unless there's some emergency with Maria. And if I catch you _manufacturing_ one…"

"My methods are not so heavy-handed," she assured him. "I was actually hoping or permission to do a few tests on _you_."

"Me? I've told you, I'm nothing special."

"I would beg to differ, Blair. You are as remarkable as Jim in your own way. Would you object to a few brain scans?"

He shrugged. "Guess it couldn't hurt anything. But, obviously, Maria's going to take precedence with me. I can't sit on my ass while she's still struggling to bring her senses under control."

"No, of course not. But afterwards?"

"Sure, but I don't know what you expect to find."

"You appear to be an extreme empath. I'd be surprised if your brain's structure and function were perfectly normal. Empaths I've studied in the past have a completely different baseline profile of their brainwaves."

"Don't know that I actually _do _qualify as an empath," he answered. "I mean, sure, I'm attuned to _Jim's_ moods, but I've never noticed anything similar with anyone else."

"That bears examination in and of itself. Are Guides born or made? Does your brain work differently when you're around Jim or does he merely broadcast on a wavelength that you're predisposed to receive?"

"Never thought about it," he admitted with a shrug. "But I _love_ the way your mind works."

"It could be an important distinction, one that ultimately allows me to help Corey guide Maria through her life as a Sentinel."

"If you think it'll help Corey and Maria, I'm in. That kid deserves not to have to go through what Jim did."

"This job is always more difficult where children are concerned," she sighed, glancing at the computer screen. "It becomes too easy to lose objectivity."

"There's nothing wrong with being a little subjective at times," Blair told her. "We're dealing with human beings here, Helen. They have needs that can't be met if you maintain a strictly scientific stance on their treatment. They're _patients_: human beings, not bundles of symptoms."

"I know. In many ways, they would be easier to treat if the human condition were not a factor." She shrugged, seeming to shake off her gloom. "At all events, that's why Will is here. He helps me keep a human perspective."

"You really need help with that?"

"At times. I've been doing this for longer than you could imagine."

"You're not _that_ old, grownup daughter aside," he answered. "Try me."

"I'd rather not. A woman's entitled to _some_ secrets, after all. Isn't age traditionally one such secret in this country?"

"And that's my cue to change the subject." He gave her an apologetic smile. "So, those brain scans showing you anything useful about Maria?"

"Nothing particularly unexpected." She typed quickly and the waveforms on the screen were replaced by a series of imaging scans of the brain. "You can see from these lit areas that she displays hyperactivity in all the sectors of the brain generally associated with sensory perception. I'm forced to conclude that her senses themselves are nothing extraordinary. Where she differs is in her ability to perceive stimulus present at subaverage strength. With the proper drugs, I believe I could replicate this condition precisely in anyone."

"You're saying _everyone_ has the potential to become a Sentinel?"

"Not without serious intervention. Maria, and no doubt Jim, have a genetic predisposition to greater brain activity in certain regions. Including this one here," she added, pulling up another image and pointing to the screen.

Blair stared at it for a few minutes, trying to dredge up memories of an undergraduate Neuroanatomy class he had only taken because it satisfied two General Studies requirements instead of just one. He remembered a lot of it, knew precisely what sense each of the lit-up areas controlled. But the one she was pointing at eluded him.

"I don't know what that area is for," he admitted finally.

"That's because medical science fails to acknowledge the existence of the sense this area regulates," she told him, giving him a mysterious smile.

"The _sixth_ sense," he realized, amazed.

"Precisely," she agreed, nodding. "It's almost inactive in normal humans. But almost every time you've _ever_ had a 'gut instinct', this region _has_ been active."

"That might explain Jim's built-in lie detector…"

"Quite possibly, it also explains his initial affinity for you. He would have been aware from the beginning, if only on a subconscious level, that your intentions were good."

"I'm not sure I'd describe what happened in our first few meetings as 'initial affinity'. The man slammed me into a wall the second time we met."

"So I read," she answered, raising an eyebrow. "But the point is, with nothing to prove that you were anything other than crazy, with no evidence whatsoever of your good intentions, he came to see you again after a rather disastrous first meeting."

"He thought he was going to see someone else."

"_Did_ he?" she asked, smiling. "You think a Detective of Jim's ability failed to recognize that he was walking into what was, for all intents and purposes, a set-up?"

"Damn. That's… a pretty fair point, actually."

"I know you believe that fate and chance played equal roles in bringing the two of you together, but I stopped believing in coincidence _many_ years ago."

Blair considered her words. "I may have to rethink my own stance on the subject," he admitted finally.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Zone-outs are probably the most dangerous thing an average Sentinel deals with. Second time I met Blair, I nearly got hit by a truck because I had a Zone. It's something Corey's going to spend a _major_ amount of her time watching for and dealing with until Maria learns how to prevent it."

Will nodded, taking notes. To Jim's relief, Blair had been right. Will was curious about what Maria would have to deal with. He seemed to have very little interest in Jim himself.

"Been doing this long?" he asked. "Working with these… people?"

"About a year now. Seems like longer." Will shrugged. "I'm still on a learning curve, to be quite honest. There's always some new problem to deal with or try to figure out. It's never dull, that's for sure."

"And these creatures, they're safe?" Jim wanted to know, not sure he was comfortable with the idea of some of the things he had seen here running loose. Blair would no doubt claim it was the Sentinel's instinct to protect, as opposed to his being quite rightly freaked out by the realization that the things that went bump in the night were not just in the human imagination.

"Perfectly safe, for the most part." He shrugged. "Most of them are like you, really."

"Like _me_?" he demanded, frowning.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "Normal, well-meaning people who just want to be left alone to get on with their lives without being treated like some kind of monsters."

"I can't blame them. Being perceived as a freak is…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"All _I_ ever wanted was to fit in," Will told Jim. "Never did, until I found this place."

"You're one of these 'abnormals' too?" he asked, surprised. The lunatics were running the asylum?

Will hesitated. "Don't know. But I see things that other people can't see, and I understand things that other people don't want to."

Jim felt himself relax. Regular guy, then. More or less.

Will continued, "See, for the first time in my life, I feel like I belong, like I'm _not_ an outcast. Because now I know that there actually _are_ people with my same hopes and desires and fears and problems."

Jim narrowed his eyes, trying to divine whether he was on the receiving end of some stupid headshrinker's mind-game. But the young man seemed entirely serious. There was not a whiff of subterfuge. He meant every word he said.

"Family's important," Jim told him. "And it's not always the family you're born into." Forget Dad and Steven. Jim had Blair and Simon. In them, he had found all he had ever really needed.

"You're right," Will agreed. "I really _do_ think that I've found a family in this madhouse." He smiled. "Even if it _is_ a fairly dysfunctional one."

"Blair says Ashley Magnus has to be experienced to be believed?" Actually, Blair's exact words that morning had been _'You like dangerous women, Jim. You have __**got**__ to meet this Ashley chick.'_

"She's something else," Will agreed, smiling. "I sincerely pity the monsters who cross the woman."

"You talk about these things like they're perfectly normal."

"Not _normal_, no. Just… no longer entirely unexpected." He shrugged. "You can get used to a lot of things, given half a chance. Don't you find that true of yourself?"

"I suppose I've had to get used to a lot of things since this all started," Jim agreed. "Blair's never seemed fazed by _any_ of it. I wasn't always quite that accepting."

"But you are now?"

"Guess I'm mellowing with age. Five years ago, Blair _never_ would have been able to talk me into coming to a place like this."

"You _could_ be mellowing with age," Will agreed. "On the other hand, you might just be learning to live with what you are."

"Okay, see _now_ you're starting to sound like a shrink."

"You have a problem with my profession?" he asked.

"Spent a lot of years trying not to get labeled as a freak. Labels in general annoy me; I'm an individual, not a category. And _your_ field lives and dies by labels and categorizations."

"That, in itself, is a categorization," Will pointed out. "If I chose to apply a label to someone, it's only so I have a frame of reference in order to treat them as an individual. You have to remember, the people I work with don't typically fit into neat little categories. I couldn't generalize about them if I wanted to. Which, to be quite honest, I _don't_, because that does them a tremendous disservice. Doesn't help me do my job worth a damn, either. I _need_ to be able to think outside the box here."

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to judge. I just… Blair says I have issues."

"Jim, we _all_ have issues. The important thing is that you can still live your life in spite of them. What else can you tell me about what Maria might have to look forward to as a Sentinel?"

"Blair says we're very territorial. He claims that's why I have eight million rules for what is and is not allowed in my apartment. As a way of asserting my dominance and symbolically marking my territory."

"Hey, just so you're not _literally_ marking it, right?"

Jim laughed.

0101010

Magnus had several tests beyond the brain-scans to show Blair, including detailed physical examinations of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.

"So, as you can see, there are absolutely no anatomical differences between Maria's sensory organs and those of a 'normal' child. This lends credence to my earlier stated theory that the differences are entirely neurological. This being the case, it is theoretically possible to entirely suppress the ability with the proper combination of pharmaceuticals and biofeedback."

Blair nodded. "It's my experience that a Sentinel can, for awhile at least, suppress their own abilities, sometimes to the point of being unaware that they even have them."

"Not dissimilar to your technique of helping them 'dial down'?"

"A more extreme version, but yeah." He nodded. "You said there are drugs that could achieve the same effect?"

"Well, it's more problematic given what we know about Sentinels and adverse drug effects, but theoretically possible."

"That's not your plan for Maria?" he asked. Jim would throw a fit if it was, and Blair could not blame him.

"Not at all," she assured him, shaking her head. "The decision to accept or reject your own abnormality is not one to be made lightly. In almost all cases, I strongly advise _against_ attempts to suppress your own abnormality. In _every_ case, I insist that one be an adult before they make the decision. It's not a choice for a child or a guardian, neither of whom can fully understand the long-term impact of such a decision on the patient."

"Good because, look, I don't know about your other patients, but Sentinels are put on this planet to do good. It's not an easy path, but it's one worth walking. Jim's abilities have saved more lives…"

"Oh, I recognize this," she assured him. "And I find your loyalty to him in particular and to Sentinels in general to be a striking and highly admirable trait. Understand, Blair, I have always wanted far more than to simply study and document the individuals I work with. I learned on my father's knee that the _only_ worthy goal of a true scientist is the betterment of mankind."

"In all of its variations, it would seem."

She smiled and inclined her head. "One does not have to be normal to be worthy of respect and admiration. Your Jim proves this. On the other hand, 'average' humans are frequently capable of appalling acts of savagery. You simply cannot judge by surface traits, not for anyone. Nor _should_ you."

"I'd like to think I never have." He shrugged. "Of course, I probably _have_ at some point in the past, but I do my best."

She smiled and nodded, returning her attention to the test results before them. "As you can see her blood-work shows a number of hormonal abnormalities, but it's difficult to tell whether those are related to her condition. Similar anomalies are perfectly consistent with extreme stress."

"Cortisone and epinephrine way up, serotonin way down…" Blair nodded. "Definitely could be stress-related. Either way, probably not healthy for a girl her age."

"Is she _sick_?"

Blair looked up, surprised. "Corey. I thought you were going to try to get some rest."

"I couldn't sleep." She shrugged. "Besides, I'm more comfortable when I'm closer to Maria. Is she okay? Did you find a problem?"

"Her blood simply shows an increase in stress hormones," Magnus assured her. "It's hardly desirable, but certainly to be expected. There's nothing for you to worry about."

Looking at Magnus, Corey abruptly looked about twelve years old, a child looking to an adult for reassurance. "You haven't lied to me yet. You wouldn't start now."

"No, I wouldn't dream of trying to deceive you," Magnus assured her. "Here, you can see her brain-waves here," she said, pulling up waveforms on the computer screen. "This shows that her mind is functioning like that of a perfectly normal eight year old. You can see from the spikes here and here that she's having a dream." She pulled up an interior view of the sensory deprivation tank, showing a smiling Maria floating inside. "A _good_ dream from the looks of it."

"I haven't seen her smile like that since all this started." Corey smiled weakly. "I don't suppose I can set up a sensory deprivation tank at home?"

"I'd advise against it," Magnus answered, shaking her head. "This tank is specially equipped with cameras and other monitoring devices to increase the safety factor. But, in unskilled hands, sensory deprivation is a touchy prospect at best."

Blair nodded. "Time in a tank can lead to agitation, hallucination, even psychosis. It's dangerous."

"Psychosis? And you put my Maria into one?" she demanded, looking furious.

"Properly supervised, it's perfectly safe," he assured her. "I've used them myself."

"As long as we remove her before she's completely awake, she'll be perfectly fine," Magnus assured her. "And I'll be monitoring her every second."

"Maybe we can use this opportunity to talk about her?" Blair suggested.

"You two do that," Magnus said. "There's an office through there if you require privacy." She pointed to indicate a door. "I'll continue to monitor Maria and call you if there's any change."

"Thanks, Helen."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Blair ushered Corey through the door, closing it behind them. He was going to have to get to know both her and Maria better before he could hope to be very helpful.

"This is like a bad dream," the young woman told him, dropping onto the couch in the far corner of the room.

Blair moved to sit beside her. "I can imagine. This is a scary time."

"She's all I have left. I don't know what I would do without her. And I just feel… so unprepared to handle _any_ of this."

Blair considered for a moment before responding. He rested one hand on her knee, turning to face her.

"I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone before," he told her. "And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't repeat it, because Jim doesn't know and I think it might upset him a little if he found out."

"If it's something that'll help Maria, your secret is safe with me."

He nodded. "Okay. Truth is, when I went into this with Jim, I didn't know the first thing. Everything I did and said was based on guesswork and supposition, because it was all so new to me. And I was _terrified_. Afraid that I'd screw up and something catastrophic would happen. Jim would get hurt, or he wouldn't catch the bad guy and someone _else_ would get hurt. Scared that he would get sick of me or figure out that I didn't know any more than he did…"

She stared at him with wide eyes. "Did you? Screw up?"

"Sometimes," he admitted, nodding. "But, in the end, it didn't seem to matter. It wasn't that I did no wrong, 'cause I sure as hell _did_. But I also did it all from my heart, and that changed something in both of us. Maria needs more than just someone who knows what's going on with her. She needs someone who loves her unconditionally. When she has that, a lot of the rest is going to take care of itself, I promise you."

"You really think so?"

"I really do," he assured her. "You have a loving heart, Corey. And that really counts for an awful lot in this kind of thing. You're going to be just fine. _Both_ of you."

"I always knew she was special, right from the first time I held her. I just never knew being special would be this hard on her."

"Being special is never easy, but she'll learn to cope," he promised. "It'll be _easier_ at her age, actually. Children are way more adaptable than adults."

She nodded slowly. "Helen says you think she'll grow up to be some kind of uber defender of the faith?"

"Well, I don't know about the 'faith' part, but Sentinels have almost always existed to protect their people. Jim was a soldier first and now he's a cop, because protecting people is in his blood."

"Our dad was a cop."

He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"Mom was a nurse. They both took care of people because they said that was what _real_ members of the human race do."

Blair smiled. "We all find our own way to make the world a better place. I always thought that my calling was teaching. Then I met Jim and realized what my true calling had been all along. Academia was just a means to that end."

"Must be nice, being so sure of yourself and your role."

"You'll reach that point, too," he promised her. "You'll reach it before you realize you have. But, one day, you'll wake up and just know in your heart that everything's changed. And that the world is just a little better off for your efforts."

"No. Maria might make the world a better place, but what can I do?"

"You can _help_ her. That's all. Just make it easier for your Sentinel to do her job."

"What do I have to do?"

"Mostly just be there for her, smooth her way. She's going to need someone who can help her deal with her spikes and her zones. I can teach you all of my techniques, although you may find that you have to modify them a little in her case; everyone's different. The person she _really_ needs, whether you call that person a Guide or a Shaman or anything else, is just one who's willing to _understand_."

She slowly nodded. "For my Maria, I can understand almost anything."

He smiled encouragingly. "We need to settle on a course-of-care. Why don't you tell me about her?"

"What do you need to know?"

"Well, let's start with basics. Her likes and dislikes. How you calm her down when she gets worked up, what she does for fun, what she'd do anything to avoid. What she's like as a person."

"She's… so special. Smart and independent and… and she loves old music. Ninety percent of what's on her MP3 player is from the seventies or earlier. I got her a karaoke machine a couple years ago and she makes me play with her every night. She _loves_ music. When she's scared at night, she makes me sing to her."

"Okay, okay. This is a good start. It's important to isolate the things that help her calm down and retain control. They'll help her now even more than they did then. What scares her?"

"High places. She won't even go on a swing."

"Just like me," he answered, smiling at her. "Does she like school?"

"She says she likes classes but hates being _in_ class. She says there's too much there. I never understood what she meant before. But it must be all those people."

"Probably," he agreed. "Too much stimulus, being surrounded by all those people. But she's always managed it before?"

"Except once or twice. Sometimes, especially if there's like a party or something, she ends up in the nurse's office with a migraine."

"See, that suggests to me that her senses were online, just more controlled, before she was lost in the woods. Jim manifested occasional spurts of Sentinel senses while he was a child, too."

"If she's had it before, that means she can have it again and still be kind of normal?"

"Not normal. _Never_ normal. She's something special and don't you ever forget it."

She smiled. "I couldn't if I tried."

"Good." Blair nodded. "Tell me more about her."

0101010

Henry Foss had wandered into the office during Jim's discussion with Will to work on the computers. Something about a new firewall and some surveillance tracking program that the psychiatrist wanted installed onto his system. When Will was called away to deal with a patient, Henry stayed even though he was done on the computer, looking eager to speak but still reluctant to open his mouth.

"You got something to say, just _say_ it already," Jim suggested. Knowing that Blair would want him to be polite, he added belatedly, "And sorry about pulling a gun on you last night."

"Hey, you thought I was a threat." Henry held up both hands. "Honest mistake. No harm, no foul, right?"

Jim frowned. "You're pretty laid back for a werewolf."

"My brother, they call it valium," Henry answered, grinning. "Need it to keep my symptoms in check. Nice side effect is that everyone else turns a _lot_ more mellow after I've taken some."

"Right," Jim agreed with a bemused smile. "Your name's Henry? I'm Jim."

"Nice to meet you, Jim. You think we can talk for a minute? I was wondering how you handled the enhanced sense of taste and smell. Looking for a few pointers, honestly. I still haven't figured out how to ignore it, and it drives me crazy sometimes."

"You can't control it?" he asked, frowning.

"These things manifest themselves at different ages. I didn't have my first transformation until a few months ago. That means no enhanced senses until that same time. Not a long time to learn, you know?"

"Oh."

So Jim described the various ways in which he dialed down a sense that was troubling him, sometimes by directly engaging a dial, others by forcing himself to focus on something else entirely. Among other techniques. Henry absorbed it all, an eager and studious pupil who was, obviously, genuinely appreciative to receive the knowledge.

Henry was a likable kid. He struck the right note by bringing Jim to the 'family' kitchen and breaking out a six-pack. They soon got to talking about things other than their unique abilities: sports and current events and the flaws and merits of various handguns. Henry had a mouthful to say about the overly-restrictive nature of various extradition treaties, a topic which apparently affected the work of the Sanctuary at times, and Jim heartily agreed with most of what he had to say. But the conversation did eventually turn back to their respective 'problems'.

"Convinced myself it would never happen," Henry admitted with a shrug. "I mean, sure, objectively, you know that if you're born a werewolf, you're eventually going to change. But being with Helen and Ashley just made me feel so _human_. I got to figuring I'd never change after all. Like maybe being away from it had cured me."

"I know what you mean," Jim agreed. "I had these skills as a kid and learned to suppress them, or was _forced_ to. I don't really know which any more. But it got to a point where the adult me truly believed that all that in the past was just pure childhood imagination, like _none_ of it had been real."

"Then, when it hit, it was that much more of a shock," Henry agreed, nodding. "'What did I do to deserve this? I was good, I played by the rules. Why am I being punished?'"

"Exactly." Jim pulled two more beers from the fridge and passed one to Henry.

"And all the time, the one question that you can't ask, because to say it out loud is to _admit_ that you're different…"

"'Why can't I just be like everyone else?'" Jim sighed, nodding.

"You know what I finally decided?" Henry asked him.

"What?"

"I decided 'screw normal'. Never _have _been, never _will _be. I'm what I am, all right? I can use what I can do to _help_ people. And I _have_. And what the rest of the world thinks of me doesn't matter one little bit. Because the people who count _don't care_. Ashley loves me and Helen loves me and no one else really matters."

"I'd say that's a healthy attitude." He smiled. "People who think I'm a freak are a dime a dozen. The people who know I'm special? They're priceless."

Henry snorted. "Man, you sound like a Mastercard commercial."

"Must be the beer," Jim answered, grinning at him. "But it's true."

"I went through this period where I was willing to go through a pretty serious invasive, life-changing surgery to change what I was," Henry admitted. "I started to think twice when Ash came and told me she didn't want to lose who I was."

"The people who love us, they help us to be ourselves. I think I've learned that in the past several years. People, normal people, they try to shape us in their image. But the ones who _really_ care about us, they only want to help us reach our full potential."

"Right on, man," Henry agreed.

Jim put down his half-empty bottle of beer. "I should go see how Blair's holding up."

Henry nodded but asked, "Are the two of you going to be at dinner tonight?"

"Probably, depending on how things are going with Maria."

"Sweet. Bigfoot makes a mean pot-roast and Helen says she's got a couple bottles of wine that she's been saving for about fifty years to go with it. Plus, Ashley's out, so she'll have a new war-story, which is _always_ fun."

"People keep mentioning this Ashley," Jim noted. "She sounds like something special."

"_Killer,_" Henry answered, his smile ridiculously wide. "Ash is something else."

"You sound proud of her."

"Always," Henry agreed. "Her enthusiasm for life is straight-up infectious. Granted, she can be damned unsettling to the uninitiated. She's still a gem. Absolutely killer."

"I _definitely_ have to meet this girl."

"You just watch it, Ellison," he warned, waggling a finger at Jim. "That's my best friend you're talking about."

"Going to go all wolfish on me?"

"If I have to, yeah." The effect of Henry's warning was ruined by his laugh a few seconds after delivering it. Damned threatening werewolf. Not. "I don't have to be threatening. Ashley, she's that way all on her own. Takes care of herself and doesn't thank me to interfere. Come on, I'll walk you downstairs. I've got to get back to work anyways. No rest for the wicked, right?"

"If you say so," Jim agreed, climbing to his feet and following.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When Jim returned to the lab, Maria was still sleeping. Magnus was at her computer, typing rapidly and constantly looking back at the screen monitoring the girl's brainwaves. Corey was deep in conversation with Blair and Will, although she kept glancing back at the sensory deprivation tank holding her sister.

Feeling a little useless, he walked over to Magnus. "Anything I can do to help?"

"At present, I can't think of much," she answered. "You might join Will and Blair with Corey. I'm sure she would be much-encouraged by your example as a functional adult with her sister's symptoms."

"'Functional adult', right," he answered, frowning and turning away. He stopped abruptly, casting around with his senses.

"Detective?" Helen asked, rising. When he drew his gun, she did the same. "What is it?"

"I smell blood. Someone's hurt, and I'm not talking a paper-cut here."

Ever attuned to Jim's mood Blair joined them without being called, his gun out as well.

"Will, stay with Corey," Magnus directed as the three slowly started out of the lab and towards the source of the blood.

A blonde girl was in the next hallway down from the lab, leaning on the wall. Her breathing was labored and her clothes were covered in blood. The way she was clutching her stomach suggested that as the cause of her injuries.

"Ashley?" Blair and Magnus asked at the same time.

"It looks worse than it is," she assured them, waving a dismissive hand. It would have been more reassuring had she not been swaying on her feet.

"Oh, Ashley!" Magnus sighed, holstering her gun and going to the girl's side. "Come on, let's get you into the lab. What did you get into this time? It was supposed to be a standard reconnaissance mission."

"Yeah, well, the sewer monsters had different ideas," the girl answered, sounding for all the world like a sarcastic teenager. When she spoke again, her voice was more serious, and faintly reassuring. "It's okay, Mom. I know you're busy. I cleaned and dressed it, so it's fine for now. I'm a big girl. I can wait a few hours for stitches."

"I'll be the judge of how long you can wait," Magnus answered as they returned to the lab, forcing Ashley into a chair. "Let's have a look at this."

Grimacing, the girl pulled up her shirt as her mother produced a pair of scissors and began cutting away what looked to Jim like a damned good field-dressing.

"What happened?" Magnus asked as she worked.

"Turns out that lizard-man from earlier wasn't an isolated incident," she grimaced. "There's a whole nest of them down there and they're getting more aggressive. People are scared. As soon as I get patched up, I plan on going back down there with a few of those thermite/water grenades Henry made--"

Magnus rocked back on her heels, looking appalled. "_You'll do no such thing, young lady!_" she ordered, pointing at Ashley with one finger. "I won't hear of it! Those grenades are expressly designed for anti-material applications, _not_ anti-personnel. I won't have you potentially destroying an important part of this city's infrastructure. If you want to burn out the nest, you'll do it with a flame-thrower like a _normal_ person."

Ashley looked ready to argue, then she sighed and shrugged. "Yes, _Mother_…"

"Some of these cuts could use stitches _now_," Magnus added with a sigh. "And I really can't be away from the lab just now."

"Guess I can do myself," Ashley answered, shrugging.

"I'd really rather your first experience giving stitches not be on yourself. Will, I know emergency medicine isn't your field, but you _did_ go to medical school. Do you think you can stitch this up?"

The psychiatrist's heart literally skipped a beat at this request. Then it started to jackrabbit.

Keeping one ear on Will's heartbeat in case the man decided to have a heart-attack, Jim offered, "I was a combat medic back in the Rangers. It's been awhile, but some things you just don't forget."

Will's heart started to slow at once.

"Oh, _could_ you?" Looking relieved, Magnus gave him a grateful smile. "Ashley, can you walk?"

"No problem."

"Show Jim to the medical bay and let him patch you up. Don't give him any trouble," she added.

"Ruin _all_ my fun," Ashley answered, planting a kiss on her mother's cheek. "Come on, Jim. I'm dripping all over Mom's clean floors."

"Right," he agreed, more than a little unsettled by her casual attitude towards having her stomach sliced open by some kind of monster. Still, she was relatively steady on her feet, so the damage couldn't be _too_ bad.

They entered a good-sized medical bay and Ashley hopped up onto one of the tables, starting to pull her shirt off. She stopped abruptly, making a face.

"Ooh, that's a little more tender than I thought…"

"Here, let me help you," he said, easing her out of the shirt.

"Thanks. You know, normally I don't let a guy take my shirt off until the _third_ date," she told him, absently resettling a bra-strap.

He grinned. "Special circumstances."

"Yeah, that's what they all say," she answered, lying down. "How bad is it?"

Good question. Pulling together supplies, he stopped to assess the injuries. Three parallel gashes, more superficial than anything, but still pretty gaping.

"Fat and muscle layer compromised, no entry into the peritoneum. You'll be just fine. Where's your Mom keep the Novocain?"

"No drugs."

"It's only a local. You won't even feel drowsy from it, I promise."

She shook her head. "I don't take drugs unless I need them. Besides, I've been in worse pain than this before. It's nothing I can't handle."

He frowned down at her. She may have been lying on her back and therefore in a technically less powerful position, but her return gaze was unflinching. And honestly a little scary coming from a twenty-something monster hunter with the pain tolerance of an Eastern mystic. He looked away, not conceding defeat. Just checking to make sure he had everything he needed. That was all.

"It's going to start hurting a _lot_ worse once I start flushing it."

"Look, jarhead, I know what I'm capable of handling a lot better than you do. This is nothing I haven't been through before a hundred times in the past. So just get to work already."

"I was Army, not Marines," he told her, picking up a saline-filled syringe.

"My mistake, GI Jim," she answered, looping her hands behind her head.

She did not make a sound or even flinch once while he flushed, disinfected, then stitched up the gashes. Even her expression did not really change, except to grow progressively more bored-looking. Jim was impressed.

"All done. You were good. Wish I had a lollypop for you."

She smiled and pushed herself up on one arm, staring at her stomach.

"You do good work," she told him. "That might not even leave a scar."

"Well, we'll have to wait a few days to see about _that_."

"Rate of healing, risk of infection. I know, I know." She nodded, sitting up the rest of the way and trying to get up.

"Easy," Jim cautioned, putting his hand on her shoulder to keep her on the bed. "So you're stoic, I get that. But you don't have anything to prove, not to me. You've lost a lot of blood. You still look a little shocky. I need you to rest."

"There's extra blood in the fridge," she told him, sighing and stretching out on the bed again. "Mine is on the top shelf."

He raised an eyebrow. "You people prepare for everything, don't you?"

"Have to in this line of work. As long as I'm being lazy, could you bring me a blanket? They're in that cabinet there."

Jim tucked the blanket around her, raising the head of the bed and making her drink a cup of orange juice while he started the infusion.

"Thanks, I feel better already." She smiled at him. "You know, you're good at this."

"Yeah, well, when Uncle Sam trains you to keep the frontline troops in fighting condition, he expects to get his money's worth. More juice?"

"Please."

He poured more, handing it to her. "So, you been doing this for long? Monster hunting?"

"Few years. I think Mom was hoping I'd turn into a scientist like her. Think I ended up taking after my father." She looked troubled by this.

"Want to talk about it?" he offered. "We have the time."

"Since when is an Army Ranger all sensitive and caring?"

He sighed. "Since Blair moved in with me. Guess, after the first few years, he started to rub off. He's all into that touchy-feely crap. But the offer stands. Having a disappointing father is something I can relate to."

"Oh, was your father a serial killer, too?" she asked with artificial brightness. At least, he _hoped_ it was artificial.

"Your father was…"

"A serial killer," she confirmed, nodding. "Tried to kill me the first time we met."

And he had considered his relationship with his own father strained?

"Seemed to have a change of heart later on," she continued, staring at her orange juice. "But I haven't seen him since, so who knows if it took."

He opened his mouth, not sure what to say. He was saved the need to figure out by the sound of footsteps in the hall outside. He spun in that direction.

"Someone's coming."

"Are you _always_ hypervigilant?" she wanted to know.

"Pretty much," he agreed, relaxing slightly at the smell of wolf. "It's Henry."

"How do you sleep? I mean, hypervigilance doesn't exactly lend itself to that."

"Takes practice," he answered with a shrug.

"Ash, you okay?" Henry asked, entering the medical bay. "Your mom says you got hurt." Looking up at Jim, he grinned. "Hey, no gun this time. Guess that means you like me now?" he asked, paying more attention to Ashley than to Jim.

"I'll wait outside," the Sentinel offered.

"Oh, that's okay," Ashley assured him. "Henry and I don't have any secrets. Right, Henry?"

"No secrets," he agreed, looking for all the world like a man who had a few where his feelings for the girl were concerned.

A monster hunter and a werewolf? Sure, why not?

"Your mom said it looked pretty bad?" Henry asked her.

"Mom tends to overreact," Ashley told him, peeling back the blanket to show her stitches.

"Oh, _man_," Henry muttered, looking sick. "Ash…"

"It's no big deal, Henry," she assured him, grabbing his arm. "I've had worse and we both know it. But, as long as you're here…"

"Sorry, Ash. No thermite grenades. Your mom insisted."

She regarded him with an expression of deep disgust.

"However, she didn't say a _thing_ about thermobaric charges. I can have some ready for you by morning."

Ashley grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down to her level, planting a kiss on his mouth. He staggered away with a bemused grin.

Jim watched him go. "You do realize that there's very little actual difference between thermite and thermobarics?" he asked Ashley.

"You gonna tell on me?" she countered, giving him a wicked grin.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the wisest course of action for me is to stay out of your family's business. I _should_ be arresting you right now, but--"

"Those monsters aren't going to kill themselves," she pointed out blithely. "They're man-eaters, Jim, and their hunting grounds are starting to spill over into the subways. You're a cop; I _know_ you don't want those kinds of casualty figures on your head. So you handle the human maniacs out there and let _me_ handle threats of the supernatural variety. Okay?"

He squeezed the bridge of his nose. Having seen what one of those creatures had done to a skilled fighter, he had no desire to see what kind of havoc they could wreak in a civilian population. Hell, _kids_ used the subway to get to and from _school_.

"Just… don't blow anything up."

"Since you asked _so_ nicely." She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

Jim checked the progress of the transfusion. "You stay put. I'm going to go check on the others."

"Come back soon. I might get lonely."

"Right," he answered, leaving the med bay.

_Yes, Blair, I gravitate towards dangerous women. But no, Blair, I have absolutely no plans on getting to know this one any better. She's a little too dangerous even for __**me**__._


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"She's waking up," Magnus announced.

Blair and Corey approached the tank, while Will retrieved a silk bathrobe that Bigfoot had found for Maria. When Magnus had dimmed the lights, the two men opened the tank and Corey carefully pulled her sister out and into her lap, wrapping her in the robe.

"Hey, little lady. How you feeling?" Corey murmured.

"My head hurts," the little girl murmured, burying her face in her sister's hair.

"Well, we can do something about that," Corey promised. "What's bothering you?"

"It's too bright and noisy."

Blair nodded encouragingly to Corey.

She drew a deep breath and began, "Maria, I need you to listen carefully and do what I tell you, okay? I want you to picture a dial in your head, like on your MP3 player, okay?"

"Okay."

Blair grinned. Radio, MP3 player, close enough.

"Now, you just turn the volume on down. Just like on your iPod. And, when you do that, the sounds around should get softer, okay?"

Maria reached up and made a circling motion with her finger. She sat up abruptly, regarding her sister in surprise.

"It worked…"

"Of course it worked, silly," Corey answered, looking relieved. "Didn't Dad always tell you that if you can dream it, you can make it happen? Now, do the same thing for the lights and see how much it helps."

She made another circling motion, then broke into a wide grin.

Corey looked at Blair, her expression perplexed. "It _can't_ be that easy?"

He shrugged. Easier than it had been with Jim in the beginning, but it obviously worked and he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"The power of belief is stronger in children than it is in adults," Magnus contributed. "In my experience, youngsters consistently show higher aptitude for biofeedback and self-hypnosis than adults simply because they _believe_ that the treatment will work."

"Placebo effect?" Blair asked, frowning.

"Placebo effect, autosuggestion, autogenics. Call it what you will," she answered. "The point is that it _works_."

"Maria, this is Blair," Corey introduced them. "He says that that you can do the same thing any time any of your senses get out of control."

"_Any_ time?" she asked, staring up at Blair with wide eyes.

"That's right." He nodded. "You can also use it to turn one of your senses up instead of down if you want."

She frowned. "Why would I want to do that?"

"To see and hear things other people can't?" he suggested. "My friend Jim is just like you and he's a police detective. He uses his senses to solve crimes that other cops can't."

She considered this. "Could _I_ do that?"

"Well, you're a little young to be solving crimes yet, but you can when you're older if you want to. It's hard work," he warned. "But if you work hard and pay attention to your sister…"

"Corey says I can be anything I want if I try hard enough."

"She's right," Blair agreed. "When I decided to become a cop, I had to work _really_ hard, but I wanted it bad enough, so I was able to make it."

"You're not a cop! Your hair's too long!"

Blair laughed, giving the mortified-looking Corey a reassuring look. "At least she didn't ask if I was in Vice. That's what I _usually_ get."

She smiled weakly. "So, that's it? Everything's okay now?"

"Uh… I wish it were that easy. She's going to need a lot of help, though. Not just learning to control her senses, turn them up and down at will, but learning how to _interpret_ what she's perceiving. That's really a pretty huge part of Sentinel training."

"But, I'm not like her. I don't _know_ what she's sensing. How do I help her make sense of any of it?"

"You'll _learn_ to," he promised. "Just like I did. We're here to help you, all of us. If you need anything, one of us is _always_ going to be there for you."

"That's right," Magnus affirmed. "You're both a part of a very special family now."

"Don't worry," Blair told her. "I'm going to stay for a few more days, walk you through the basics of what you need to know and, after I go back to Cascade, you can still get in touch with me any time. My cell is on twenty-four/seven."

"Careful or I'll be calling you at all hours."

He grinned. "I'm a Guide. That's what I'm here for."

"Your doggy's pretty," Maria announced suddenly.

"My…" He looked around the lab for a moment before he realized that the girl was obviously referring to his spirit animal. "You can _see_ her?"

"Mmm hmm," she answered, climbing out of her sister's lap and moving to stand before Blair. She reached out and made motions as if petting an enormous, invisible wolf. Which, Blair supposed, was exactly what she _was_ doing. Amazing!

"What's your spirit animal look like?" he asked her.

"A pretty bird with sharp claws and yellow eyes."

"Really? Well, that could be a hawk or a falcon or even an eagle."

"Not an eagle."

"Not an eagle," he agreed. "Then a hawk or a falcon, probably. We can look at pictures on the internet later and figure out which."

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Corey asked, regarding them uneasily.

"Sentinels can sometimes see people's spirit animals," Blair told her. "A spirit animal is kind of a protector and guide for a person. Everyone has one. I've known people who claim to have more than one."

"And Sentinels can _see_ these invisible animals?"

"Pretty much," Blair agreed, giving her a reassuring look. "Trust me, it's not as out-there as it seems."

"What do they _do_?"

"Different things. Like I said, they protect and guide people, but it's different for a Sentinel. Jim's had several important interactions with his own spirit animal and with those of others. At one point, seeing another spirit animal alerted him to the presence of an enemy. Once, he was able to use the power of his spirit animal to save the life of another person."

Everyone in the room was staring at him now, except for Maria who was still petting the 'doggy'.

"I should know. I was there. Experienced it firsthand."

"You made no mention of such an incident in your dissertation," Magnus noted.

"Yeah, well, I figured it was between Jim and I." He shrugged. "Not every second of every day was documented. Jim deserves some secrets."

"Chief," Jim growled, entering the lab. "What have you been telling these people?"

"Oh, just mentioning your habit of singing in the shower."

The Sentinel shot him a dirty look.

"Kitty!" Maria exclaimed, darting in Jim's direction.

He tensed automatically, dropping into a defensive crouch.

"Easy, Jim!" Blair laughed. "She's _eight_. I don't think she's that much of a threat."

"It's not _that_, Chief." Jim was staring down at the girl like she was an alien entity. He mouthed the word "kitty" and gave Blair a look that demanded answers.

"Remember when you saw Alex's spirit animal?"

"Oh, right." Jim gave a hesitant nod. "Of course. Uh, hello, Maria."

The girl regarded him quizzically for a moment, then broke into a wide smile and threw her arms around him. Jim staggered at the unexpected contact, landing on the floor with a muffled curse.

Blair winced and hurried over to help Jim up. "You okay, man?"

Maria looked mortified. "Sorry, sir."

"Not your fault, princess," he answered, smiling at her as Blair helped him to his feet. "Uncle Jim's just a little jumpy."

Blair smirked. _Uncle Jim?_ He was _never_ going to let the Sentinel live that one down!

"You're like me," Maria declared.

"Yes," he agreed. Looking up at Magnus, he added, "Helen, I patched Ashley up, but she needed a blood transfusion. She's in the med bay now, filling up."

"Well, since you all seem to have everything under control, I'll go check on my daughter. Contact me if anything is required."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Hell of a day," Jim remarked, sitting on the edge of Blair's bed as the younger cop got ready for bed.

"Just like old times, huh?"

"Not like old times," Jim countered. "Maria actually seems to _enjoy_ all your little tests." He smiled. "Still, _love_ the way you made them kid-friendly. Three grains of Kool-Aid in a glass of water, now tell me which flavor it was. That was pretty inspired, Chief."

Blair sat down next to him. "Did you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"That she was better at the taste-test than _you_ were."

"In my defense, it's been a _long_ time since I've had Kool-Aid. Couldn't even remember what all the flavors _were_, let alone tell which was which."

"Don't know, Jim. I think she might just be _better_ than you."

"Hmm," Jim answered, looking thoughtful. "So, what do you and Helen have planned for tomorrow?"

"Well, we've already done taste and smell. Tomorrow Helen has some tests worked out to quantify her visual and auditory acuity."

"Exciting," Jim muttered. "You do realize that, at this point, she's moved beyond the 'helping' phase and into the 'studying us like animals' phase?"

"You're overreacting," Blair told him. "Besides, how can you complain if it helps future Sentinels avoid the problems you had to deal with?"

"It's not that I'm unsympathetic…"

"You _are_, Jim. You really are," he sighed, shaking his head. "She's a _doctor_. She needs to establish a baseline or she's never going to recognize new symptoms, let alone understanding what they entail. It's just how doctors operate."

"But that's the problem!" Jim shook his head. "It's _not_ a disease. It shouldn't take a doctor to deal with it."

"Jim, you've _got_ to get this chip off your shoulder. You aren't a freak and no one who counts thinks you _are_. So why can't you just…"

"You wouldn't understand, Chief." He shook his head. "You're normal."

"That's not what Helen says."

Jim frowned at him. "What?"

"She figures I must have some wiring issues to do what I do." Blair stared at him. "And I _don't_ have a problem with the idea." He grasped Jim's shoulder. "Because who I am is the direct reason that I am where I am now. And this is a _good_ place."

"Not everyone's that comfortable in their own skin," Jim pointed out.

"You think it's a _bad_ place we're in?"

"Never said that. I _love_ having you as a partner."

"Think about that," Blair advised. "I _never_ would have come to this life if you hadn't been different."

Jim considered this. "Chief…"

"I don't know about you, Jim, but I don't have any regrets. It's been a wild ride, but an important, _meaningful_ one."

"I'm not saying I would change anything. I _wouldn't_. But that doesn't automatically make any of this easy."

"Greatness is _never_ easy." Blair shrugged.

"Greatness?" Jim scoffed.

"Oh, come on. Don't get me started. Think about the things you've done, the wrongs you've righted, the lives you've saved. You're _way_ beyond the realm of us ordinary cops."

Jim threw an arm around Blair's shoulder and pointed out, "It's not like I don't have help."

Blair smiled at him. "We _do_ make a pretty good team."

"We have our moments," Jim agreed, nodding.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Blair told him, "I'm going to let her do some brain-scans on me."

"Blair!" he protested.

"She's not going to learn anything about _you_ by studying _me_. There's no reason to go burning bridges, and a friendship with these people could prove valuable in the future."

"I don't like it," he grumbled.

"You're not my father."

"How do you know?"

Blair sniggered. "I knew there was a reason I never dated older guys…"

Jim swatted him on the back of his head, climbing to his feet. "Get some sleep, Blair. And _don't_ let Mrs. Frankenstein do that brain scan."

"She wants to do _two_ sets, actually," Blair told him. "One set when you're present and one when you're not."

Jim frowned down at him, his expression curious. "What's that supposed to prove?"

"The nature of the bond between us."

"You really want to lay that bare for some _scientist_ to scrutinize?"

"You say 'scientist' like it's a bad word. I used to be one myself," he pointed out.

Jim shifted uneasily. "What we have is special. I just don't want an outsider involved."

"Putting a name to it doesn't invalidate it, Jim. Stop being so insecure. It's time you realized that nothing can change what we've got."

"Don't know. Guess it's seemed metaphysical to me for so long now…"

"The scientific and the spiritual don't exist in two separate realms, man," Blair told him. "Nothing's one or the other. Everything's both at once. Quantifying the amazing doesn't make it _less_ amazing. If anything, it makes you appreciate it that much more. Think about it, Jim."

Jim reached out and ruffled his hair. "Night, Chief."

"Night. Wake me up if you need to talk or anything."

"Will do. Thanks. Night."

Blair watched him go with a sigh, shaking his head and picking up his phone. He dialed quickly.

"Yeah, Helen, I didn't wake you, did I? No, that's good. Uh, look, about those brain scans. I may not be able to after all…"

0101010

"Cute, aren't they?" Ashley Magnus asked, walking up to where Jim stood in front of the glass-enclosed cage on the basement level.

"They look like _furbies_," he answered. "You're telling me those things occur in nature?"

"Freaky, huh?" she answered. "Oh, and I wouldn't stand that close. Breathing the same air as them has some… _interesting_ side-effects."

Jim took a quick step backwards.

"This place freaks you out, doesn't it?" she asked, smiling at his discomfort.

"You could say that. How's the stomach?"

"Hurts like a mother," she answered, shrugging. "Mom would pitch a fit if she knew I was out of bed."

"Then why _are_ you? You really should be on your back."

"I was visiting the little guys." She gestured towards the cage.

"I thought you said they were dangerous."

"Oh, absolutely deadly. You should see them in action." She shrugged. "But they're _still_ adorable."

"Come on. I'll walk you back to the med bay."

"Or you could walk me to my room."

Jim considered this, smiling reflectively. It _had_ been some time.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's _them_, not you," she told him. "I think I might have mentioned that they have some interesting side-effects." She walked over to the cage, lifting her fingers to the glass and making some cooing noises at the creatures within. A few stirred, but none reacted more strongly than that.

"Maybe you should step away from them?" he suggested.

"Yeah," she sighed, moving back. "Drawback of being as hard-nosed as I am. Closest you ever come to getting any is huffing Nubbin hormones."

Jim decided to pretend she had not just said that. Which was difficult. Weird little creatures. Weird little lady…

"Do I even _want_ to know what else is down here?" he asked her.

She grinned and shook her head, taking his arm and steering him away. "It's one wild adventure after another. A lot of people can't handle it. Most don't even _try_. A lot of the people who come to us, they come 'cause they're desperate. And they do a great job convincing themselves that it's just them and the staff. Because even if they have to face the truth about themselves, they don't want to face the truth about the _rest_ of our world."

"What about you? How do you cope?"

She shrugged. "I grew up with this. Mom pretty much raised Henry, so it's not like my exposure to non-humans was ever _limited_. In fact," she grinned up at him. "You're pretty much the most normal guy I've met in this place."

"Not sure if I should be comforted by that…"

She laughed. "I talked with your friend Blair for awhile last night."

"He mentioned it. Guns, mostly, wasn't it?"

"We both have this insane weapon/love parallel that we draw that would make your average Freudian's head explode," she told him as they entered the elevator.

He frowned. "Wasn't aware Blair was particularly fond of weapons."

She smiled up at him. "Target practice makes him feel _loved_," she told him. Peering keenly up at him, she added, "Wonder why _that_ would be the case?"

He cleared his throat. "I can't imagine."

"I'm sure you can't."

Jim smiled.

"Here's my door," she told him, opening it. "Thanks, Jim. Night."

"Good night, Ashley. Where's a person go around here to clear their head?"

"Well, at this hour, there are probably still patients in the garden, so your best best's probably going to be the roof. You can usually be alone up there."

"Thanks."

"Yeah." She nodded. "Jim?"

"Yeah?"

She smiled. "Welcome to the Sanctuary. Night."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Jim stared at Ashley's bedroom door for a moment before heading back to the elevator. Some fresh air and solitude would do him good after the few days he had spent worrying about the whole idea of coming to a place like this to help a stranger who made it her business to study and _collect_ freaks.

Of course, nothing was ever easy. Helen Magnus was on the roof, standing on one of the battlements and staring out at the city below.

"Good evening, Detective Ellison," she greeted him.

"Don't do it," he deadpanned. "You have so much of your life ahead of you."

She turned then, giving a mirthless laugh. "You really have no idea."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I'll go."

"No need," she assured him, stepping down from the parapet and approaching. "We should talk."

"Talk?"

"You seem ill-at-ease with me. Or perhaps it is not me but my vocation. In either event, there's nothing to be solved by avoiding the issue. If you have a problem with me, I'd like to know what it is so I can try to ease your concerns on the subject."

"I just don't like you wanting to study me and Blair. For a lot of reasons."

"Blair mentioned that you've always had a particular aversion to being considered anything other than normal. In your drive to protect him, you seem to have superimposed some of the same anxiety onto him."

"It isn't _just_ the freak thing."

"Oh? What, then?"

He sighed, considering. "When you're little and you see a magician on stage doing all these amazing tricks…" He hesitated, embarrassed.

"Yes?" she encouraged him. "Go ahead, Jim."

"Magic. You're just so amazed. It affirms your belief in magic, leaves you with a sense of wonder and awe. Then your prick of a brother has to go and tell you exactly how every trick _really_ works."

Her expression was understanding. "Suddenly the magic seems somehow less?"

"_Yes!_" He nodded.

She smiled. "I don't see how anything _I_ might have to say can lessen the depth and wonder of what you and Detective Sandburg share. Perhaps, in defining it, you might even find your estimation of it increased?" she suggested. "I've never found my work to have a particularly demystifying effect. Rather, it _enhances_ my appreciation of the things I study. Detective Ellison, you shouldn't be afraid of the truth. It's a constant companion whether you know it or not. It's _always_ there, in light as well as darkness. And knowing it seldom changes a damned thing."

Jim considered her words, staring out at the city beneath. "It's a hell of a view you've got up here."

She rested her hand on his arm. "I'm not your enemy, Jim. Look around this place. My whole goal here is to try to allow as many people as possible to lead as normal a life as they can. I think that's all most people want, a normal life." She smiled sadly. "I wouldn't mind having one of those myself."

"So why don't you walk away?"

"Could _you_ walk away? Knowing what you know, what you're capable of? Could you really leave it all behind?" She shrugged. "How could I? These people _need_ me. And there's always more to do, others to protect. It's inescapable."

He sighed. "I know that feeling."

"You and I aren't so different," she told him. "We both have traits that set us apart from normal men and women, that allow us to do tremendous things. And we both have a very strong instinct to protect. _And_ to serve."

He smiled at her wording. "Don't get me wrong, Helen. You seem like a nice enough woman." _Even if your daughter's a complete psychopath._ "I just don't want to be studied. And that includes you trying to figure out what effect my presence or absence has on Blair. Far as I can see, that's our business."

"I can understand your defensiveness."

"Really? Anyone ever tried to stick _you_ under a microscope? Called you a freak? Harassed your family because of it?" He shook his head. "Sorry, Helen, but you don't have any idea."

"No, your circumstances are unique. Everyone's are. It doesn't mean we can't empathize with each other." She sighed at her continued inability to reach him. "Did Blair tell you that I think it's possible to blunt a Sentinel's senses to normal levels?"

He had long since gotten used to being different, but his heart still gave a jump at her words.

"If you _really_ don't want any part of this world…"

"You always this manipulative?"

"I wouldn't call myself manipulative. I merely want what's best for my patients."

"Look, I am _not_ one of your patients. I may not _like_ being a freak, but you were right earlier. I can't walk away from this life."

"Nor, from what Blair has told me, would you _wish_ to."

"No, guess I wouldn't."

"It _is_ a part of you, yet you refuse to embrace it. Why?"

"It's not that I refuse to embrace it. I just don't like being the focus of any kind of attention."

She regarded him thoughtfully. "Is that instinctive on your part?"

"Instinctive?" he repeated.

"Yes. In my experience, the desire to avoid detection is often of the utmost survival value."

"There you go, comparing me to an animal. _This_ is why I don't like scientists."

He turned away from the surprised-looking woman.

"I meant no offense," she assured him.

"Doesn't matter what you _meant_. Still says it all about how you think of us."

"Jim…"

"Good night, Doctor Magnus," he answered shortly, leaving the roof before she could react.

0101010

Jim's sleep had been restless. When he _did_ sleep, he dreamed he was in one of the glass-enclosed cells under the Sanctuary. These dreams featured an oversized wheel to run around in, and Doctor Magnus, watching him and scribbling rapidly on a clipboard.

Every time he woke up, he cast out with his senses until he could hear Blair's breathing and heartbeat, and the other man's presence and serenity soothed him. And, eventually, he would find himself sleeping again. Then the same nightmare would force him back awake again.

Morning came. _Finally._ And when it did, he was grateful, because he might have been tired and more than a little grumpy as a result, but it was daytime and their day promised to be a full one. Spending time with Maria and her sister would at least give him something to do other than laying in the dark, staring at the ceiling and facing things he would rather not think about.

"Cheer up, Jim," Blair suggested as they walked down to the lab where Magnus had plans to run more tests on Maria. "What's wrong, anyway?"

He shook his head. "This is just starting to remind me of old times, Chief. I'd almost forgotten how hard it was, being different."

"Jim, man," Blair sighed, touching his arm and stepping into a side hallway, nodding for Jim to follow him.

"We promised Maria and Corey that we'd be there by eight."

"We still have ten minutes," Blair answered. "You okay, Jim?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's been years. I should be over all the fear and doubt. But I'm _not_…"

Blair sighed. "I never planned on this upsetting you. Maybe you should just go back to Cascade. I should never have asked you to come in the first place."

"You're my partner. I go where you go, back you up. That's how it works."

"No, not if this is hard on you. I have no right to expect you to stay. I should never have asked you to come along in the first place."

"What about Maria?"

"I think I can handle things from here. Hell, Jim, I probably could have all along. I just thought…"

"You thought this whole experience might exorcise some old demons."

"Pretty much. Silly?"

"Nah. Well-meaning." Jim smacked him on the shoulder. "I'll be fine here for a few more days," he assured Blair. "Let's get down to the lab. Maria and Corey will be expecting us."

When they reached the lab, Maria was perched on her sister's knees, playing Bejeweled on the computer and quietly singing 'Hotel California' as she played. Corey was sitting there with a smile on her face, looking completely at peace.

"Morning, Corey," Jim greeted the older girl. "Maria."

"G' morning, Uncle Jim," Maria answered without looking up from the screen. "Hi-o, Blair."

Corey rose to her feet, carefully transferring Maria onto the chair she had just vacated without the girl having to take her eyes off the screen once. Smiling indulgently, she moved to join Jim and Blair by the door.

"She's so much more herself today. I really can't find words to thank you."

"It isn't necessary," Blair assured her. "We're just glad that she's feeling better." He smiled widely at her. "Looks like you got a good night's sleep yourself for a change."

"Yes. For a change." She smiled and shook her head. "I'd almost forgotten what it felt like. I mean, first Maria was lost and I spent my days tromping through the woods looking for her, then she got back and she was so scared of every little thing. And then her senses started getting out of control. I'd say it's been like a roller-coaster nonstop, but I used to _enjoy_ those."

"You'll learn to appreciate these ups and downs, too," Blair promised her, patting her arm. "Trust me, before much longer there'll be as many good times as bad. And not too long after that, there'll hardly ever be any bad times to speak of at all."

She smiled and nodded, staring at her feet. "I believe you."

"I hope so. Remember, I know what I'm doing."

"I know. And I'm going to take you up on that offer to call you any time I need help."

"You'd better," he answered, winking at her.

Jim rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock. "Wonder where Helen is?"

Corey looked at the clock, too, frowning. "She said she would be here. She's never been late before."

"Something must have come up with another guest here," Blair guessed.

As if on cue, the lights flickered and went out, only to be quickly replaced by dim emergency lighting.

"Oh, that can't be good," Blair murmured, ushering Corey farther into the room.

Maria looked at the now-dead computer with a frown. "I was about to beat my high score!" she protested, folding her arms over her chest and pouting.

"You'll have plenty of time to do so again," Corey promised, her voice shaking slightly. At Maria's suspicious look, she cleared her throat and spoke with more composure. "It's just a little power-cut. It's winter. Power cuts happen all the time in winter."

"But it wasn't snowing outside," the girl pointed out, looking around anxiously.

Jim dialed his hearing all the way up, half-expecting to hear screams and commotion outside. But it was eerily quiet. He would almost have preferred running footsteps and frantic voices.

Now humming 'Bad Moon', Maria dug through her sister's purse and pulled out a Nintendo DS. Every bit the normal eight year old, she appeared oblivious to the crisis. Jim frowned at her and realized that this was far from the truth. Although she was putting on a brave face, the little girl was obviously terrified. Her heart was racing, her face tense. He would have walked over and hugged her, except that probably would have impressed the gravity of the situation on her and scared her worse. He willed his spirit animal to go to her instead, not sure if it even _worked_ that way.

As he was trying to make up his mind as to whether or not to leave the lab and find out what was going on, Helen Magnus came in, her breathing heavy as if she had just been running, her expression frantic.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Good, you're all here," Magnus said after sweeping the room with her gaze. "We've had a minor complication. I'm going to have to ask you all to stay here while we resolve it. Detectives, I take it you're armed?"

Blair nodded, but Jim stared at her. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"A, ah, new guest is unaccounted for. Please wait here." She reached for the door.

"Hang on." Jim caught her arm, restraining her. For an instant, she looked ready to break his hand for it. Then she forced herself to relax, but Jim could still smell her anxiety. "If there's something dangerous out there, Blair and I can _help_."

She hesitated. "We can hardly leave Corey and Maria alone."

"Please, Doctor," Corey began, clearing her throat. "If you can just leave me a gun…"

"You know how to use one?" she asked, looking dubious.

"Dad was a cop. He showed me."

"Fair enough." Magnus passed her gun to Corey. "But neither of you leave, no matter what. And don't let _anyone_ in unless it's one of us."

Corey took the gun, chambering a round and giving Magnus a grim nod. "Don't worry about us. I'll take care of her."

"Take care of yourself, too," Helen murmured. "Gentlemen, this way."

"One second," Jim answered, moving to Maria's side and dropping to a crouch before her. "Hey, Maria."

She paused her game and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Uncle Jim?"

"You take care of your sister, okay?" he asked her, voice low enough that only the two of them would be able to make out his words.

"I always do," she answered in an equally low voice.

He smiled. "Good girl. And try not to worry. We know what we're doing. We'll keep you both safe."

"I know, Uncle Jim. I believe you."

"Good." He ruffled his hair as he climbed back to his feet, drawing his gun and joining Blair and Magnus. "What's the plan?" he asked as they left the room.

Magnus produced another gun from somewhere on her person as they walked. "Ashley's not in the facility, which means we're lacking firepower. But, with the two of you, we have manpower to spare. Will and Henry are searching the south wing. If you and Blair can take the north, Bigfoot and I will search the sublevels." She passed him a walkie-talkie. "Be careful."

"Always," Blair assured her.

"Let's go, Chief," Jim murmured, touching his arm and starting for the north wing.

"We don't even know what we're looking for!" Blair protested, following.

"A large humanoid with green scales and three-inch fangs," Helen called over her shoulder, moving rapidly in the other direction. "He'll have blood on his hands and muzzle."

"Oh, that so doesn't sound good," Blair murmured, taking the radio from Jim and switching it on. "Helen, what's going on with this thing?" he asked into it.

"Ashley caught it in the sewers about a week ago. Several large dogs had been killed and at least three humans were mauled, one fatally. Will was convinced he was making headway, but he was mistaken. It attacked him during a morning counseling session and then escaped containment. The facility's in lockdown, so it can't escape. It's only a matter of finding it."

"What about your other residents?"

"All familiar with lockdown protocol. They'll remain safely and securely in their rooms until the all-clear is given."

"Okay. We'll radio you if we find anything."

"Be careful. Both of you."

"I don't suppose you know what a giant lizard-man smells or sounds like?" Blair asked hopefully.

"Sorry, Chief. It's been awhile since I've been to the reptile house at the zoo."

"Well, just keep your senses open for anything unusual. If it got into any kind of confrontation with Will, it's probably a little panicked right now, too. That might make it easier to find."

"Normally, I'd agree with you, but I'm willing to bet that every heart rate _in_ this place is elevated right now. Stay alert," he added as they turned into a side hall.

"Thought that was _your_ job," Blair murmured, but it didn't stop him from readying his gun as he fell into step next to Jim. "You know, when I suggested we come here, I didn't know it was going to end with us chasing lizard-men through a converted Cathedral in the dark."

"Aw, come on, Chief. You used to play Dungeons and Dragons in high-school. Just pretend this is like that."

"Okay, well, my high intelligence and wisdom stats are warning me that, if this thing's remotely intelligent, it will have found a defensible place to dig in and is probably somewhere lying in wait."

"Yeah, that's about what my borderline intelligence and wisdom are telling _me_," he agreed. "Don't suppose there's a spell or something for that?"

"A spell to detect ambushes? I'm sure there must be," Blair agreed. "But don't look at me, man. I was always a rogue, not a magic user."

"A _rogue_? Why does that not surprise me," he chuckled.

"Yuck it up, sir paladin," Blair answered, sweeping his eyes back and forth as they moved. "It might not even be in this part of the building, but something doesn't feel right."

"Tell me about it," Jim muttered. "It would help if we had a map of this place. Wouldn't put it past Magnus to have the place riddled with secret passages and bolt-holes. This creature could be anywhere."

"Well, for now, let's assume he doesn't know any of Helen's secrets. We'll check the obvious and public areas first. If we have to, we can go back to any less obvious areas later on."

"Yeah, it's not like we had time to ask her to print up maps. We'll just have to…"

"Jim?" Blair asked as he trailed off.

"I smell blood."

"Human blood?"

"I think so. Not that I have a lot of experience with other kinds."

Blair checked to make sure he had a round chambered. "Lead the way."

Jim stopped just to the left of a door. "They're in here. There's blood and their breathing's labored."

"Could be our guy," Blair agreed, flanking the door on the other side.

Jim held up three fingers. Blair nodded and held up one then, a moment later, a second. On 'three', they moved together, Jim kicking the door in and Blair entering the room close on his heels, both with their guns at the ready.

They had kicked down a lot of doors together in the past, established a comfortable pattern to it. But Jim was used to human criminals. He froze at his first sight of the 'abnormal', a six foot tall creature with a pronounced snout, green scales, and glowing yellow eyes. Blood stained its clawed hands and was smeared around its mouth. It opened that mouth in a snarl, revealing rows of unnaturally long, pointed teeth, including three inch long incisors.

Jim was able to jump out of the way of those teeth, to push Blair to safety, but was so busy minding them that he lost track of the claws. At least until two sets of four raked his chest in rapid succession. He would have cursed, but pain took his breath away. Gasping instead, he staggered out of range and raised his gun.

Blair beat him to the punch, rushing into the fray and unloading eight or nine shots into the creature at point-blank range. Jim knew the proximity was unnecessary; Blair could have achieved the same center-mass cluster of bullets from across the room. Like anything that could be learned with study and hard work, Blair's aim was excellent.

Jim watched the creature sway on its feet for a moment before going down. Blair stood over it, finger still on the trigger.

"It's okay, Chief. Its heart isn't beating," he reassured the younger cop, leaning against the wall.

Blair did not move away or even stop aiming at the prone creature. "You okay, Jim?" he asked quietly.

"Never better," the Sentinel lied. "Flesh wounds. Still got the radio? You might want to send the all-clear to Magnus."

Blair gave a shaky nod, still not taking his eyes off the lizard-man. "Helen?" he murmured into the radio. "We found it, it's dead."

"Dead?" she repeated. "Are you _sure_?"

"Jim says so."

"Where are you?"

"Uh, some kind of sitting room, two rights and a left from where we parted."

"I know the one. I'll send down Henry and Bigfoot directly. Were either of you hurt?"

"Uh, Jim's kind of cut up. He says it's nothing."

"I see. Once one of the others arrives, bring Jim back to the medical bay and I'll have a look at him."

"You got it," Blair agreed, clipping the radio to his belt again and looking up at Jim. He made a face. "You sure it's minor?" he asked, taking a half-step towards Jim. "Looks like you're bleeding pretty bad."

"Cuts bleed worse than gunshots. It's nothing," he lied. "What about _you_?" Jim rested his hand on the back of Blair's neck, watching him with concern. "I know how you feel about killing."

"Somehow, it's a lot easier when my partner's in danger," Blair answered grimly.

"Yeah, well, the monster's dead, so how about you put the gun away now?" he suggested.

Blair looked at the gun in his hand in mild surprise, the way he _always_ did when he found himself forced to use it on something other than a paper target. Good shot or not, he considered the weapon a last resort, to be used only in extremity.

"It's okay, Chief," Jim soothed, hoping the others would get there soon.

He was starting to get light-headed, and that was going to be difficult to hide from Blair. He was not in the mood for the kind of lecture the younger man always gave when he ignored his injuries.

It was a sitting room; that meant it had chairs. He walked over to the nearest one and sank gratefully into it. It was leather, so his blood should wipe off easily enough. Later. He sighed and closed his eyes. Blair, predictably, was at his side in a heartbeat.

"How bad is it?" he wanted to know, pushing Jim's hands away and unbuttoning his shirt.

"Don't know," Jim answered honestly. "I dialed my sense of touch most of the way down. The endorphins are helping, but I can't catch my breath very well."

"You think the thing broke some ribs?" Blair asked, gingerly prodding.

"I don't think it hit me that hard. Might be shock," he added, remembering that being attacked by one of these creatures had sent Ashley into shock the previous day.

"Yeah, you've definitely got the blood-loss component down," Blair muttered, frowning. "I don't even know where to start applying pressure, man."

"Just let it ooze. It's not bleeding that bad and God knows what that thing had on its claws."

"Hadn't thought about that." Blair looked up at him. "You holding up okay?"

"Been better," Jim sighed. "Been worse, too."

"I hear that."

Acknowledging his words without passing judgment. Which probably meant Blair was more than a little aggravated.

"Someone order a cleanup on aisle three?" Henry asked brightly, entering the room. He stopped with one foot over the threshold. "Jeez! Jim, you okay?" he asked, hurrying to join him and Blair.

Jim nodded weakly. "Just a scratch."

"Hell of a 'scratch'," Henry answered. "Come on, Blair, let's get him down to the med bay. Doc's already down there with Will."

0101010

Magnus patched Jim up with quick efficiency, assuring him that it looked worse than it was, that the blood loss was relatively minor, that no bones were broken, that he would be back on his feet within a matter of days and back on active duty not long after.

Jim was glad. He wanted _out_ of this place with its mad scientist boss, her Neanderthal butler, staff shrink who saw things that weren't there, werewolf in the IT department… It was all just too crazy.

A sentiment that was magnified when daughter Ashley walked into the med bay smelling strongly of recent pyrotechnics and wearing a smug grin.

"No more sewer-monsters," she announced cheerfully, moseying on over to her mother and planting a kiss on her cheek. "At least, not in sector three." She looked at Jim's bandages for a moment, then announced, "Cool, now we can be twins!"

"Ashley, behave yourself," Magnus directed, giving her a stern look. She frowned. "What is that _smell_?"

"Yeah, it _was_ pretty rank down there. I'd better go shower now," she answered, wandering off humming to herself.

Magnus watched her go with a tight frown, then shook her head and returned her attention to Jim. "Are you in much pain? I can give you something."

"That won't be necessary," he assured her. "I've gotten pretty good at dialing down pain over the years."

"Very well," she agreed, nodding and going over to check Will again. "And how are you?"

"Little embarrassed to have another abnormal play me for a fool."

She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "It's hardly your fault that you have a forgiving nature."

Jim sighed and looked up at Blair. "When can we get out of here, Chief?"

"Just as soon as you can travel. After meeting them, I think Corey and Maria will be fine without us right there every step of the way. We can do anything we need to over the phone."

"Good, because I need to get out of this madhouse."

"You got it, man," Blair agreed, nodding. "If I'd known it was going to get quite this crazy…"

"Not your fault. Except by virtue of the fact that you remain anchored in the geographic center of the Sandburg Zone." He laughed and patted his arm. "But I think I'm going to need some downtime to recover from this downtime."

"Simon won't like that," Blair pointed out. "But we'll tell him it's a Sentinel thing and he won't ask too many questions. We can go camping."

"Ah, I like the sound of that," Jim agreed, nodding. "What?" he asked Magnus, who was staring at him with undisguised horror. "I can keep the wounds clean. It's no big deal."

"It isn't _that_," she answered, shaking her head. "It's just… aren't you aware what kinds of creatures live in the forest around Cascade?"

"No, Doc," Jim answered, shaking his head. "I don't know and I don't _want_ to know. Thanks anyway, but I'm starting to think that ignorance really _is_ bliss."

"I _see_," she answered slowly, frowning. "But…"

"Let it go, Magnus," Will advised. "We all make our own decisions in this life."

"Yes, but…"

"Let it go," he repeated, nodding encouragingly at her. He shot Jim a smile. "Something tells me he knows what he's doing."

"He knows, Helen," Blair agreed. "One of these days, he might even be ready. But today's not that day. Another time."

"But you're an _academic_!" she protested. "You _can't_ be content to walk away without all the answers?"

"Of course I can," Blair answered, smiling and resting a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Some things don't need to be stated for you to know that they're true. Thanks all the same, Helen, but I think I'm good."

**The End**


End file.
